|
By BRANDON JUDELL
Director Lee Tamahori's
first major film constantly punches the audience
in the stomach. Twenty-minutes into this feature I
felt a knotted sensation down in my guts, and the
feeling was unrelenting.
The pic opens with a gorgeous lush view of the New
Zealand of our minds -- trees galore on unsoiled
beaches abutted by a rich tide under deep blue
skies. As the camera pulls away, we realize we
were being rapturous over a poster. The reality is
that the Maori natives are living an existence no
better than that of "Boyz N the Hood." Poverty,
violence, rape and drugs are everywhere.
The script spotlights the 18-year-marriage of Jake
and Beth and their five children. Jake is an
unemployed Stanley Kowalski type; strikingly
handsome, muscular and loving when sober. A
callous monster when drunk, and we're talking
about more then ten beers here. Beth (Rena Owen)
still remembers the old traditions warmly, but
they are too far in the past to be of much help,
and her only strength is her tart tongue, which
causes Jake to beat her to a pulp regularly. Now
these aren't your normal TV-movie attacks. This
film drives home the odiousness of wife-battering
like none other.
Unable to see a way out of her situation, Beth
sees her oldest son join a violent gang where
membership means you become a weight-lifter and
have your whole body, including your face,
tattooed. The next oldest lad winds up being taken
away by Welfare, and Beth, the oldest daughter,
who works the hardest to keep the family together,
has to constantly fight to keep sex and drugs out
of her life.
Besides being an unflinching look into the modern
remains of the Maori culture and New Zealand
social issues -- not really big drawing cards for
an American audience even though they're sadly
similar to our own -- the acting and direction
here are galvanizing. When "Once Were Warriors"
ended, I felt my body had survived a blistering
battle. In some odd way, it felt good.
"Once Were Warriors" is presented in 1.85:1
anamorphic widescreen and contains both Dolby
Digital and DTS 5.1 audio tracks. In a
screen-specific commentary track Tamahori shares
his filming decisions, as well as background
information on Maori culture and history; other
special features include a behind-the-scenes
featurette that contains interviews with the cast
and crew, a gallery of stills from the film that
focuses on the elaborate Maori tattoos (Tamahori
is at hand with comments) and two trailers, one
for the US market and one for New Zealand
(Tamahori again offers his thoughts, this time on
marketing the film). |
