Once Were Warriors portrays the life of the Maori people in a very brutal realistic ways. Lee Tamahori focuses on painting a very realistic picture for his audience. The plot focuses around the Heke family, which is used as a symbolic figure to represent the life of a certain group of Maori people. Beth, the mother left her hometown and married Jake Heke against her parents’ will. They live in a downtrodden neighborhood and the family is shown as disconnected from both their Maori heritage and Western culture.
The film begins with Jake loosing his job and he continues to remain unemployed throughout the movie, spending most of his time drinking at a local pub with his friends. Nig, the oldest son, despises his father’s brutality and leaves the family to join a street gang. The gang members all have facial tattoos, which represent their Maori heritage. However, the gang members are also shown having ties to Western culture when they are shown drinking at bars and taking drugs. The second son Mark is often involved in minor criminal offenses and is shown getting arrested for a car theft early on in the movie. The court places him in a foster home due to his parents’ situation. Mark is extremely frustrated at his situation, but eventually comes along and becomes intrigued and somewhat passionate about his culture’s history. Grace, the youngest daughter is thirteen who represents to more ambitious and educate aspect of the family. She enjoys writing stories, which she uses as way to escape her vicious real life. She often spends time with her best friend Toot, who is a bum that lives in a run down car under a bridge. Grace is an essential element of the plot as it is her death that makes the family realize their pathetic situation and make a change. Grace is sexually assaulted by her Jake’s friend Bully. This adds to her depression and she commits suicide. Beth refuses to continue to live their life and wants to move back home. Jake who is shocked refuses to attend Grace’s funeral and spends his time drinking at the pub. Beth reads Grace’s diary and reveals to Nig and Jake that Grace was raped by Bully. Jake, true to his nature, beats Bully to pulp and stabs him with broken bottles. Beth and the rest of the family leave Jake and return to Beth’s hometown. Beth states that the Maori people were once warriors, but not the kind of warrior that Jake is. She tells Jake that he is still a slave to his brutal nature and worldly vices. She also says that her Maori heritage gave her the strength to put up with Jake for so many years and that it will continue to give her the strength to leave Jake and his control.
Throughout the movie Tamahori uses a very real setting and regular camera lighting. Also, there was usually no music in the background, which added to the real element of the film. The movie has a very blunt nature, which is one of its strengths. Every point the movie attempts to make hits audiences hard. The movie is also a contrast to the general view that the world has of
- Arun Duraiswamy
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