Once Were Warriors (film)

Once Were Warriors
Directed by	Lee Tamahori
Produced by	Robin Scholes
Written by	Riwia Brown, based on the novel by Alan Duff
Starring	Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell
Music by	Murray Grindlay Murray McNabb
Cinematography	Stuart Dryburgh
Editing by	Michael J. Horton
Distributed by	Fine Line Features
Release date(s)	September 2, 1994 (1994-09-02)
Running time	99 min.
Country	New Zealand
Language	English Maori

Once Were Warriors is a 1994 film based on New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling 1990 first novel. The film tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence, mostly brought on by family patriarch Jake. It was directed by Lee Tamahori, and stars Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison.

Plot

Set in 1994, Beth Heke (Rena Owen) left her small town and, despite the disapproval of her parents, married Jake "the Muss" Heke (Temuera Morrison) - Muss being short for "Muscles." After eighteen years they live in a unkempt council house and have five children. Their interpretations of life and being Māori are tested. Their oldest daughter, Grace, keeps a journal in which she chronicles events as well as stories which she tells her younger siblings.

Jake is fired from his job and but is satisfied with the unemployment benefit, spending most of the days getting drunk at the local pub with his friends. There he is in his element, buying drinks, singing songs and savagely beating any other patron whom he considers to have stepped out of line. He often invites huge crowds of friends back from the bar to his home for wild parties. While Jake portrays himself as an easygoing man out for a good time, he has a vicious temper when drinking. This is highlighted when his wife dares to 'get lippy' at one of his parties and he savagely attacks her in front of their friends. Beth is shown to love her kids deeply but is incredibly flawed and weak. She too turns to drink when things go wrong, and angry outbursts, and sometimes violence (but on a much smaller scale). Her children are shown to do everything for themselves, and even resignedly clean the blood-streaked house after her beating, which is obviously not a first from their reaction.

Nig (Julian Arahanga), the Hekes' eldest son, moves out to join a street gang whose rituals include facial tattoos (in Māori culture called Tā moko). This usually shows the heritage of the person; in Nig's case, he shows only the heritage of his mother, with the Moko located on only one side of his face. He is subjected to a merciless beating by the gang members, then embraced as a new brother by the leader, and later sports the gang's tattoos. Nig cares about his siblings, but despises his father for his thoughtless brutality. He is angered when his mother is beaten, but deals with it by walking away.

The second son, Mark 'Boogie' Heke (Taungaroa Emile), has a history of minor criminal offences, and is taken from his family and placed in a foster home as a ward of the state due to the situation with his parents. Despite his initial anger, Mark finds a new niche for himself, as the foster home's manager instructs him in his Māori heritage. Jake does not care that Boogie is taken away; he comments that it will do him some good, to toughen him up a bit. Beth is heartbroken, and goes to an effort to get the money together to visit him. Jake pays for the rental car from gambling winnings but deserts them to go to the pub, and they never make the journey.

Grace (Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell), the Hekes' 13-year-old daughter, loves writing stories as an escape from the brutality of her life. Her best friend is a homeless boy named Toot who lives in a wrecked car. She despises the future she believes is inevitable and is constantly reminded of—getting married and playing the role of the wife, which she believes to be catering to one's husband's demands and taking a beating when one has "deserved" it. She dreams of leaving and being independent and single.

Grace is raped in her bed by family friend 'Uncle' Bully (Cliff Curtis) who tells her that it is her fault for "turning him on". She tries to go to Toot for support, but he kisses her, trying to show his love for her. She reacts violently and storms out, believing him to be "just like the rest of them". After wandering through the city streets one night, Grace comes home to an angry Jake. As she is about to go to bed, Bully asks for a goodnight kiss in front of everyone, to test his power over her. Grace refuses, and her father tears up her journal and nearly beats her up. She runs out to the backyard. Beth returns home a minute later and goes outside, to find that Grace has hanged herself.

Jake is soon kicked out of home by a newly defiant Beth after he refuses to change his lifestyle, and stays in the pub with his mates while the rest of the family are attending Grace's traditional Māori funeral ceremony. Beth stands up to him properly for the first time as he refuses to let her be taken to the marae; he has always felt second rate for not being in touch with his heritage, in his words, "a black bastard". The film cuts back and fourth between the mourning, Jake in the pub, bottling it up, and the family on the marae. Boogie impresses Beth with his singing, and Toot says his goodbyes, telling her the gentle kiss was all he meant by it, and Beth tells him to come and live with them. Reading Grace's diary later that day, Beth finds out about the rape and confronts Jake in the pub. Jake at first threatens Beth, but Nig hands him Grace's diary and Jake, true to form, reacts by severely beating 'Uncle' Bully, even to the point of stabbing him with a glass bottle. Beth blames Jake just as much as Bully for allowing the circumstances under which it happened. She leaves and states her intentions to leave with their children and return to her Māori village and traditions, defiantly telling Jake that her Māori heritage gives her the strength to resist his control over her. Jake hopelessly sits as the family leave, with sirens wailing in the background, presumably for him.

Differences between book and film

The book and the movie follow a roughly similar plot. The three major differences are the role of Beth; most of Nig's gang subplot is absent from the film; and the ending is significantly different. In addition, whereas the novel was set in the fictional town of Two Lakes - clearly based on the town of Rotorua where Alan Duff grew up ("Rotorua" literally translates as "two lakes") - the film takes place in Auckland.

In the book, Beth and Jake are roughly equal characters, and Beth is a flawed but dynamic character who is almost as irresponsible as Jake. In the film, Beth is more central - especially as Jake's period of homelessness is completely absent from the film - but her character is less complex. The difference between Beth's character in the book and the film is illustrated by an episode in which the family rent a car in order to visit Boogie in borstal, but Jake ends up getting drunk in the pub as the family wait in the car with him promising to have only one drink. In the book, Beth hires the car using money she has saved by not drinking, but quickly joins Jake in the pub and gets upset that they have not visited Boogie only when it is too late. In the film, the rental car is obtained by Jake giving money to Beth that he won gambling on horse racing, whilst Beth waits in the carpark for several hours before going back home without visiting Boogie. Essentially, Beth spends the first three quarters of the movie as a passive character before Grace's suicide spurs her into leaving Jake, whereas throughout the book she makes several attempts to improve her life before improving both her family's life and her community.

The subplot concerning Nig's gang is a bigger part of the book than the film. Nig attempts to find a substitute family in the gang, but its members are either too brutal or too beaten down to provide him with the love and support he craves.

The most apparent differences between the plot of the novel and film is the ending. In the novel, Grace is not sure who rapes her, but thinks it may have been Jake. She writes this in her diary and when the rest of the family find it they confront Jake. He cannot remember what happened as he was too drunk. He then leaves the family, lives in a park and befriends a young homeless man. Meanwhile Beth begins a Māori culture group and generally reinvigorates the community.

Characters

Major characters

• Beth Heke - Rena Owen
• Jake "the Muss" Heke - Temuera Morrison
• Grace Heke - Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell
• Nig Heke - Julian Arahanga
• Boogie Heke - Taungaroa Emile
• Polly Heke - Rachael Morris Jr.
• Huata Heke - Joseph Kairau

Minor characters

• Bully - Cliff Curtis
• Dooley - Pete Smith
• Bennett - George Henare
• Mavis - Mere Boynton
• Toot - Shannon Williams
• Taka (Gang Leader) - Calvin Tuteao
• King Hitter - Ray Bishop
• Judge - Ian Mune
• Policeman - Robert Pollock

Production and awards

The film was produced by Communicado Productions, 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.

The film was shot at a local Otara state house, located in O'Connor street. The film was filmed primarily in this house, with neighbours complaining on numerous occasions due to the film's late night party scenes.

A sequel to the book was published in 1996, What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?, which was made into a film in 1999. However, it was poorly received compared to the original. The third book in the trilogy, Jake's Long Shadow, was published in 2002 but has not been made into a movie.

Popular and critical reception

The website RottenTomatoes.com, which compiles mostly North American reviews, shows that 29 out of 31 were "fresh", or 94 percent positive. The reviews gave the film an average rating of 7.7 out of 10.

References

• Thompson, K. M. (2003). "Once Were Warriors: New Zealand's first indigenous blockbuster." In J. Stringer (Ed.), Movie Blockbusters (pp. 230 – 241). London: Routledge.

External links

• Once Were Warriors on NZ On Screen - behind-the-scenes footage and interviews as well as the film trailer. Free to view (Flash required)
• Once Were Warriors at the Internet Movie Database