Overall Rating
  Awesome: 68.84%
Worth A Look: 13.77%
Average: 2.9%
Pretty Bad: 2.9%
Total Crap: 11.59%
3 reviews, 120 user ratings
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| Whale Rider |
by Stephen Groenewegen
"Chief among peers"
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The hero of Whale Rider is a 12 year-old girl. This is one of those all-too-rare films that appeal to adults and children alike, because it refuses to condescend to either audience.Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) lives in a small Maori community at Whangara, on the east coast of New Zealand. Knowledge of the traditional ways is dying, despite the fierce efforts of the present chief and patriarch, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), to keep them alive. Pai is Koro’s granddaughter and comes from a long line of chiefs. Her father named her after the legendary Paikea, whale rider, who led the Whangara people to shore 1,000 years ago when they were lost at sea.
Naming his daughter after Paikea was an act of defiance for Porourangi (Cliff Curtis), because only the eldest son of each generation is entitled to become chief. Porourangi’s son died with his mother during childbirth, when Pai was born. Having refused to succeed Koro, it was up to Porourangi to provide an heir.
Although Pai is a keen student of her culture, her stubborn grandfather won’t teach her because she’s a girl, much to the exasperation of his long-suffering wife, Grandma Flowers (Vicky Haughton). Koro even establishes a school to instil in the local Maori boys the qualities of a chief, and deliberately excludes his granddaughter. But the Whangara people need a chief to unite and advance them. Finally, Pai proves that sometimes the best way to uphold tradition is to break it.
New Zealand director Niki Caro, adapting a young adult novel by Witi Ihimaera, carefully grounds the fantastic elements of the plot, which include Pai’s spiritual connection with whales. She filmed along Whangara’s rocky coastline, where the novel was set, and cast local Maoris as extras. The landscape, as seen through cinematographer Leon Narbey’s lens, is ruggedly beautiful.
Keisha Castle-Hughes wins our sympathy, not through cuteness or girlish pluck, but a quiet determination that doesn’t seem pre-digested or overly calculated. Even when her proud grandfather bluntly rejects her, she won’t give up on him. It’s an extraordinary performance, given that Castle-Hughes had no previous acting experience. Casting director Diana Rowen, who recommended Anna Paquin for The Piano, has again struck gold. Curtis and Haughton provide added humour and emotion as Pai’s father and grandmother, respectively. Even when you want to hate Paratene’s pigheaded and belligerent Koro, you can sense the desperation about his dwindling culture that drives him to extremes.There is so much texture to this film, conveyed through the images and stories, even the weather-beaten faces of the extras. Niki Caro tells this tale with the simplicity and power of a fable, and I watched Whale Rider unfold with wonder.
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=7503&reviewer=104
originally posted: 05/07/03 07:58:40
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OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 Sundance Film Festival. For more in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 CineVegas Film Festival. For more in the 2003 CineVegas Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 Seattle Film Festival. For more in the 2003 Seattle Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 San Francisco Film Festival. For more in the 2003 San Francisco Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. For more in the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Brisbane Film Festival. For more in the 2005 Brisbane Film Festival series, click here.
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USA
06-Jun-2003
UK
N/A
Australia
08-May-2003 (PG)
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