Movies - Once Were Warriors

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	Movies - Once Were Warriors

Once Were Warriors, published in 1990, was New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, and the basis for a 1994 film, directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison. It tells the story of an urban Maori family, the Hekes, and portrays the disturbing reality of domestic violence.

Plot summary

The novel is set in the fictional town of Two Lakes, clearly based on the town of Rotorua where Alan Duff grew up ("Rotorua" literally translates as "lake two"), while the film takes place in an urban area of Auckland. The story deals with domestic violence and degradation within a contemporary Mãori family.

Beth Heke, left her village and despite the disapproval of her parents she married Jake "da Muss" Heke. After eighteen years they live in a slum and have five children. Their interpretations of life and being Maori are tested. Since Beth is from a more traditional background she related to the old ways, while Jake is an interpretation of what some Maori have become.

Jake is unemployed and spends most of the day getting drunk at the local pub with his friends. When he is at home he beats his wife brutally if she only dares to talk back to him. Nig, the elder son, moves out to join a street gang whose rituals include facial tattoos. Boogie is taken away and put into a foster home for delinquent boys. Grace, the thirteen-year-old daughter, loves writing stories. Her best friend is a drug-addicted homeless boy named Toot who lives in a car carcass. He is the one who really cares for her.

Grace hangs herself after she had been sharing a terrible secret only with her diary for a long: she had been raped by her father’s friend 'Uncle' Bully. When Beth reads the girl’s diary she finds out the truth and tells Jake who reacts in the only way he knows, using violence and beating Bully to death.

The film ends with Beth and the rest of her family returning to her Mãori village and traditions. It is not just a story about another troubled family but about people who have been robbed of their own land and culture and have to face poverty and degradation.

This film is highly controversial, and lead to government reports on domestic violence in New Zealand. It has, in international circles, led to a characterising of Maori as "all being like Jake" In the end Once Were Warriors has become a key point in New Zealand's film history.

Production and awards

The film was produced by Communicado, its first feature film.

The film won best film at the New Zealand Film & Television Awards, Durban International Film Festival, Montreal Film Festival and Rotterdam Film Festival.

It also became at the time the highest grossing film in New Zealand, surpassing The Piano
and Jurassic Park
.

A disturbingly real exposé of the results of poor communication skills, Once Were Warriors impacted strongly on audiences, many of whom recognised and were forced to confront the parallel events in their own lives.

The book had a sequel, What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?, which was also released as a film in 1999. It was poorly received compared to the original.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Once Were Warriors ]

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