Photo: Screenshot
Alexander Bisley
With Waitangi Day imminent, it's a salient time to consider the very strong and varied contribution Māori film and television has made to Aotearoa New Zealand's culture and language, and our international impact. Laughter and tears, education and inspiration, Māori film and television influences a lot. Streaming services increasingly host a sparkling array, from Netflix to NZ On Screen.
Before the glittering lights of Los Angeles, before Marvel megadom, Wellingtonian Taika Waititi hit it out of the park with Boy (Netflix, Beamafilm). A tragicomic classic, Waititi's semi-autobiographical film plumbs '80s Māori boyhood, from an East Coast child's optimistic perspective.
Being the rugby fanatic that he is, Jewish-Māori writer-director Waititi leaves it all on the field. He even plays Boy's hapless Dad Alamein, based on his own dad. Foreshadowing Jojo Rabbit, Boy deftly captures how Māori have responded to trauma with exceptional humour and resilience.
As Boy, the wonderful James Rolleston charmed Aotearoa New Zealand. What happened to Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, memorable as Boy's little bro Rocky? And his adroitly animated "powers"? It would be ka pai to see him at the movies again.
Be it Alamein's hilariously inept attempt to look cool getting into a car through the window, or Rachel House's egg-based insults as feisty Aunty Gracey, or the bittersweet evocation of rural Kiwi primary school, Boy's iconic scenes remain our cinematic heritage.
Around the corner to Gisborne, and The Dark Horse (Beamafilm) is freighted by superb performances by James Rolleston as 14-year-old Mana, who a cruel gang are trying to brutally prospect. And Cliff Curtis as his uncle, and bipolar chess coach, Genesis Potini. Gen is trying to put Mana on a good and meaningful path, including chess. One of the inspiring films about uncles and nephews, with hard-hitting scenes that may stay with you for over a decade after you see them.
Once Were Warriors (Netflix) is The Dark Horse's tough twin. Cliff Curtis plays an uncle, Bully, who does evil. A bulked-up Temuera Morrison is brawler Jake Heke.
How about the raw and intense performances from the actors who play Jake's kids? Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell as heartbreaking Grace, Julian Arahanga as staunch Nig, and Tangaroa Emile as Boogie, who finds "the wairua of the ancestors… the taiaha within."
Rena Owen portrays his ultimately heroic wife, Beth. She, as Arahanga puts it in his 2014 documentary, Once Were Warriors: Where Are They Now?, holds the film together. The cast's reunion perspectives are a salient response to criticisms.
From Warriors' opening shot that pulls back from an idyllic landscape (a billboard) to reveal mean South Auckland streets, Stuart Dryburgh's cinematography puts us there. The atmospheric score includes haunting koauau (Māori traditional flute) leitmotif and Warriors' chilling theme. Lee Tamahori's authoritative direction builds narrative momentum and has led to an illustrious overseas career. Scriptwriter Riwia Brown's adaptation adds a more optimistic ending than Alan Duff's bleak as, Rotorua-set novel.
Crowdpleaser Red, White and Brass (Kanopy) hits happier notes. Based on a true story, Damon Fepulea'i's first feature has scenes that are a hoot. Tongan rugby obsessive Maka (John Paul Foliaki) is desperate and driven to see the Ikale Tahi taken on France at the Cake Tin during the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The big game sells out, so Maka enlists his community to form an impromptu brass band to get into the stadium as match entertainment. Only challenge is they don't have experience, or instruments. Comedy ensues. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays Maka's longsuffering bestie Veni. Hariata Moriarty, one of the stars of Cousins (Netflix), again impresses as Aroha, the gameday performance coordinator.
Fepulea'i, previously known for a noted documentary on the wrenching Dawn Raids, helms with a sunny touch. It's Tongan spirit at its finest, both on and off the field, and in front of and behind the camera.
For another spirited film, try Barry Barclay's masterpiece Ngati, excerpted at NZ On Screen.
Ngati is set on the East Coast during the 1950s, and gorgeously filmed by Leon Narbey. Few films capture the power of Māori culture and philosophy so powerfully. A funeral scene is just incredible.
Whakaata Māori, Māori Television's streaming service, propositions an increasingly substantial and varied offering. Some of its current Māori documentary picks include Merata Mita's intense classic Patu (about the 1981 Springbok Tour protests), Nina Nawalowolo's A Boy Named Piano, and Speak No Māori.
Hui e, tahiki e! East Coast Rising (Whakaata Māori) scores. It's the 2021 Heartland Competition, against the backdrop of Covid restrictions. After being 2012 champions, Ngati Porou East Coast haven't won a single game in over 50 games during eight years.
Gisborne's Hosea Gear, the underrated Hurricanes and All Blacks wing great (the unluckiest player during the 2011 Rugby World Cup), returns to the Coast to restore the mana to the sky-blue jersey, and Aotearoa's second biggest iwi. NPEC are the only iwi-based NPC team and many of them kōrero eloquently in te reo, notably Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, the club's longest serving CEO.
Gear tears up twice talking about being separated from his three kids and their mother in Australia, due to Covid restrictions. Further muscular and interesting characters include Hone Haerewa, the team's staunch loosie skipper, and big lock Myles Lardelli-Muir Tawa, who gains touching personal confidence being part of the team. Horseman Ma'a Nonu plays some games in return for a Hosea cameo.
There is, of course, enjoyable game footage, exciting wins against Buller and neighbours Poverty Bay, with some of Aotearoa's best home supporters. Heartbreakingly, Māori AB Sean Wainui, a cousin of the Gear bros, dies. After his tangi, they go and spend a recuperative hour at their nanny's grave.
East Coast Rising has a lot of heart. As the sky blues chant before they run onto enemy turf and haka, "Who are we? Ngati!.. Tihei mauri ora!"
Alexander Bisley is a Wellington writer. His whakapapa includes Ngāpuhi, Danish and Irish.