A moving tribute to the Maori language and culture. It's the story of Paikea, a 12-year old girl who seeks to overcome a thousand-year tradition and become the first female to assume the leadership of her people. Though excluded from the training rituals, Pai furtively watches and learns in readiness for the opportunity to prove that she is the one who has a mystic connection to the whales.
Whale Rider by Niki Caro delivers a moving tribute to the unique language and culture of the Maori, the aboriginal tribes of New Zealand. Based on a novel by Witi Ihim... more >
Whale Rider by Niki Caro delivers a moving tribute to the unique language and culture of the Maori, the aboriginal tribes of New Zealand. Based on a novel by Witi Ihimaera, it is the story of Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), a 12-year old girl who seeks to overcome a thousand-year tradition and become the first female to assume the leadership of her people. According to legend, their ancestor Paikea founded their village in the 8th century after arriving on the back of a whale, and from that time tribal chiefs have been exclusively the first born male descendant of the ancestral line.
An early tragedy leaves the tribe without a chief when Koro dies, since girls are not considered to be proper leaders. After ten years have passed, Koro, resigned to the fact that his son will never produce a male heir, begins training local boys in the rituals and tasks associated with being a tribal chief. Koro is obstinate in defending the traditions of the tribe and excludes Pai from the training sessions. Pai, however, furtively watches the boys go through their rituals, learns the language, songs, and history of her people, and readies herself for the opportunity to prove to Koro that she is the only one with a mystic connection to the whales.
Whale Rider succeeds because of its honesty and the natural ability of Keisha Castle-Hughes to make Pai's character come alive. It is her willingness to overlook the shortsightedness of her elders and remain focused on her purpose and the needs of her people that makes the film a memorable experience. Whale Rider is a simple story, and a rare delight for children and parents, inspiring us to get in touch with the traditions of our own culture.
< less
A sleeper hit in a summer of male-oriented, computer-generated blockbusters, this is as canny a piece of counterprogramming as you could want: the story of a young Mao... more >
A sleeper hit in a summer of male-oriented, computer-generated blockbusters, this is as canny a piece of counterprogramming as you could want: the story of a young Maori girl (Keisha Castle-Hughes) trying to prove herself to the grandfather (Rawiri Paratene) who once deemed her not good enough to lead their tribe. While the tribal elder devotes his time to training the community’s young men, this impudent youngster turns her attention to the ocean, and the legend she was named after: Paikea, the mythical Whale Rider.
Due to the vast amounts of pixel-tinkering which constitute filmmaking in some quarters these days, movies now routinely arrive with credit lists almost as long as the films themselves, so it’s refreshing indeed to see a film constructed entirely it seems, from hemp and water. Rope is director Niki Caro’s dominant motif, reflecting an awareness of both the strengths and constraints of such an ancestral tradition; at times, Whale Rider plays like the PG version of Once Were Warriors, as both celebration and clear-eyed critique of a culture still defined in predominantly masculine terms. It also goes without saying, to anyone who’s seen Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings films, that she has no problem filling the screen with examples of New Zealand’s luscious countryside.
It’s a film of serene silences; the sound of waves lapping against a boat’s hull, or that dead-eared underwater quiet; but with a lot more to shout about, too: committed performances (Paratene is immense, and Castle-Hughes as expressive as first-time child actors always seem to be: by the point at which Pai finally breaks down during a school concert, her tears couldn’t seem any less like prop-box glycerin), some earthy humour, a superbly atmospheric Lisa Gerrard score (work worthy of her finest collaborations with Michael Mann), and, this best of all; a deep-rooted, timely belief that there are no effects more special than those derived from the workings of the human heart and the mysteries of the deep blue sea.
< less
