Whale Rider (Special Edition)
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Movie Reviews of Whale Rider (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Best Family Film of 2003 (and maybe best overall)
Summary: 5 Stars
We live in an age where moving stories of courage and determination just aren't enough. Those tales have to be accompanied by Oprah Book Club moments of overcoming handicaps and tragedy or dealing with racism and sexism. Many a great story is ruined because the real drama of life takes a secondary role to the politically correct lens through which it is told. In Whale Rider, it is the Lifetime-esque melodramatic subplot dealing with the evil old men who run the world and try to prevent little girls from reaching their life's destiny. The story takes place inside an aboriginal whaling community, seemingly untouched by the modern cultural advancements of the past one hundred years. Of course, our liberal filmmakers decided these people needed to be lectured in gender roles, and thus the little story of a young girl over-coming an oppressive and chauvinistic world is born.
Now, that all sounds like criticism for this film, and I do admit I wish this Steinam-like depiction of men was toned down a bit. But that one flaw doesn't change the fact that this is a wonderful film, a truly remarkable achievement. Forgetting all the male-bashing, at the center of the film is a touching story about a young child who so wants to be loved, especially by her grandfather. She latches on to a story from family's her past about a great voyager who arrived at their island on the back of a whale, a great warrior whose soul will someday return in a "chosen one". The young girl decides she has as much claim to the birthright as any of the boys and attempts to prove to everyone (especially her grandfather) that she is worthy.
We seldom see young people depicted in such an honest manner. This touching story will be loved by almost everyone (and the feminists may take steps to have it canonized).
Movie Review: Good Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I found "Whale Rider" to be a nice surprise. It doesn't cater to our lower nature at all ... quite rare in today's movie making ... but concentrates on family and tradition instead.
It is the story of a Maori family living in a New Zealand village ... a family that had, for generations, provided the local Maori population with its spiritual leader ... always a male ... who, as tradition has it, is able to ride, yep, whales. The youngest generation has no male to offer, only a young girl. Strife naturally occurs, and the story is an unfolding of the initial resentment and then begrudged acceptance of this girl ... after it is demonstrated that destiny is on her side.
Keisha Castle-Hughes plays the young girl, and she is excellent. Rawiri Paratene plays her grumpy grandfather, and he is good too. All the characters are true-to-life ... nothing is sugar coated ... and this is quite a departure from your normal cinematic fare.
There is quite a bit of ... psychological violence ... coming out of the grandfather character. He is quite mean to the girl ... all in the name of tradition ... and I didn't go for that at all. She takes it like a little champion, however, and prevails in the end.
It would have been a much better movie if the grandfather had had ... love in himself to give ... instead of the rigid (and senseless) demands of ancestry. A nice balance (between his love for his grand-daughter and his concern for tradition) could have been maintained ... and this would have made the final victory all the more sweet.
As it is, there are quite a few scenes that are unsettling ... not the least of which is the opening one. But it is an inspiring movie at heart, and yes, she does actually ride a whale.
Movie Review: One of the Best Movies I've seen
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is completely underrated. Keisha Castle-Hughes is being nominated for Best Actress in this year's Academy Awards for her brilliant performance as Pai. This young newcomer to the film world has a wonderfully natural ability to bring warmth and honesty to her character despite having no acting experience at all.
This is the story of a young girl's impression on her Maori tribesmen and family. Born to a line of Chieftains who date their heritage back to the mythical Whale Rider Paikeia, young Pai is the unexpected and shunned heir to her family lineage when her mother and twin brother die in childbirth. After painfully losing his wife and boy, the chief's eldest son relinquishes his obligations for tribal leader and departs the country to follow his own ambitions, leaving young Pai to be raised by her grandparents in New Zealand.
Koro, the tribe leader, eventually grows to love young Pai, but never truly accepts her as part of the family. As a girl she's useless to him. In order to maintain the traditions of his heritage that had been passed down through generations of first-born males, he decides to take matters into his own hands by training the young boys of his village in a vain search for a new chief. Young Pai proudly embraces all the traditions of her culture despite her grandfather's forbidding because she loves him uncondtionally. It isn't until the end that Koro discovers the answer he was looking for had always been right in front of him.
Other people who've seen this film were expecting more flash and bang based on the reviews, but I thought the temperament of the story was just right. This was honest and mild yet emotionally powerful.
Movie Review: The Exaltation
Summary: 5 Stars
The psychic and social pull of assimilation is very strong. We all want to belong, to be like everyone else-hide from our roots, take on the identity of the majority, the whole.Niki Caro takes on the mantle of the Maori of New Zealand in the sad, melancholy, unrelentingly tragic yet ultimately positive "Whale Rider."
Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) is a young girl brought into Maori life with a couple of strikes against her: she is a female and she has survived the child bearing death of her mother and her twin, a brother who was destined to become a Chief. Her father leaves her with his parents and as she matures, she begins to develop the mystical, physical and leadership qualities of a Chief. But this is against nature says her grandfather, Koro and so begins the struggle between a grandfather and granddaughter; the struggle between the old ways and the new, the religious and the secular.
The performances are very truthful and appealing especially Vicki Haughton as Pai's grandmother, Nancy Flowers whose expressive eyes hold not only a bottomless well of love and caring but a world weary realization of the world as it is and not as her husband, Koro wishes it to be. Castle-Hughes's Kai is a marvel: all jumbled up emotions, gangly legs yet steadfastly committed to what she feels is her right and destiny. Her scene in which she recites an essay written for her grandfather will be remembered as one of the most emotionally open and tragic scenes in recent memory.
"Whale Rider" is a view of a world to which we are not often privy. It is about tradition and family and roots. It is a glorification of and a return to a time and a place where the most basic emotions of family and fraternity are exalted.
Movie Review: Another great film about women facing their ethnic cultures
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the fourth movie I've seen in the past two years about women standing up to ethnic cultural barriers to their growth and realization of who they are and who they can be. (And let's be fair: it's not just ethnic cultures that have put women down. Our own American melting pot culture still does to a large degree.) The others:* Bend it Like Beckham
* My Big Fat Greek Wedding
* Real Women Have Curves
All four are excellent. Whale Rider is the most serious of the bunch. It also presents a culture (New Zealand Maori) that is probably the most foreign to Americans. And that was intriguing to me for its own sake.
Whale Rider is about a group of Maori's waiting for a leader to be born. That leader must be a man. When young Pai, a girl is born, her grandfather largely rejects her because she is not the boy he wanted to come out of their kingly bloodline. Pai secretly learns the ways of the Maori, including the ways of Maori warriors. She learns and loves these things far more than the boys her grandfather identifies as potential leaders, including her own father and uncle. She becomes the leader, and her grandfather finally realizes he has been wrong.
One of the things I love about all of these movies is that the women reject the denigrating aspects of their cultures while still being present and choosing to love their families. They embrace the noble and beautiful aspects of their cultures, while overcoming that which would keep them down. In doing this, they show that culture can adapt and grow and still be beautiful and relevant.
This is a beautiful movie. It says much without a lot of words. The actors, including and especially the actress who plays Pai, are excellent.