Once Were Warriors
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VHS Movie Reviews of Once Were Warriors
Movie Review: Very powerful and eerie
Summary: 4 Stars
Once Were Warriors is a look inside a Maori family's daily life of fighting, loving, and living. It's a view for outsiders of a proud culture and history, where men were once literally tattood, intimidating warriors capable of warding off even the most difficult adversary.
The father of the family is Jake The Muss (Temuera Morrison), a belligerent, incredibly insecure drunk, who compensates by laying the beat down on anyone in his way. He descends from a long line of slaves, and that chip on his shoulder causes the aggression. It isn't abnormal for him to randomly walk up to a stranger at his local pub and nearly beat him into a coma. Unfortunately for his family, they're often on the undercard for the fight.
Jake's wife, Beth (Rena Owen), is the backbone of the family, the true matriarch through which all struggles are either amplified or lessened. While far from a good mother, especially with one kid in a gang and one on the way to a juvenile home for Maoris, she's at least the one who comforts and shows love, and ultimately cares about her children's well-being.
Her strength, however, leads to confrontations with Jake, who definitely doesn't like to be challenged. And when the couple decides to have regular drinking parties at their house, inviting a large group of friends for loud singing and drunken debauchery, the violence is much more prevalent.
Eventually, the story moves along and the family deals with the struggles of domestic abuse, alcoholism, irresponsibility, detachment, rape, and separation. It's quite a roller coaster ride after a somewhat slow beginning. It's complete madness at times, but overcoming the daily problems eventually leads to triump, and a return to a proud way of life.
The one downside to this movie is the production value. It's clear that the budget wasn't very large, and it's quite good for what was available. The acting is top notch, however, and for the most part, overcomes any production shortcomings.
Movie Review: once were warriors
Summary: 5 Stars
Loved the movie. I looked for the sequel to this but it isn't available in the U.S. To bad I would have ordered it.Movie Review: My favorite film
Summary: 5 Stars
Dont why this flick affected me so but it remains my favorite movie to this day.Movie Review: Great Film
Summary: 5 Stars
I first heard about this highly controversial and critically acclaimed film about a decade ago because of its vast amount of violent content... this movie is really well written, acted, directed... you're really going to enjoy watching this movie over and again... however, this film does have a lot of violence, including rape, incest, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and much more... but this is still one of the best movies i've ever seen and i highly recommend it to everyone.Movie Review: Please don't think that this IS Maori culture
Summary: 5 Stars
In reading reviews on Once Were Warriors, most written by Americans, I fear that many believe this to be a true depiction of Maori life in NZ.
However, whilst this film shows a gritty, dirty, dangerous side to Maori culture in NZ it is not the kind of life that all Maori lead. I have numerous Maori friends, among them a doctor, a lawyer, a sales executive and hard working tradesmen, who value their family among all else. Please know that although this film does portray a kind of gangland you would see in South Central LA it is not the kind of life most Maori lead. In saying that, I do not wish to take away from that fact that the scenes shown in this film are a reality for many Maori too...and this kind of poverty and gang violence is an ongoing issue in NZ. What I like about the film is that it shows the kind of poverty and socio-economic problems evident in ALL societies - a common theme in all countries that is not solely about race.
Regards,
A New Zealander (who knows South Auckland quite well)