HondaReport.com - Film Review: Riding in triumph, ‘Whale Rider’ commands every element of great storytelling

"Whale Rider" will make you laugh, think and cry, the definition of a full, complete day according to the sage Jimmy Valvano. Jimmy would have loved this small, but surprisingly powerful film from New Zealand. And better yet, all of the native cast looks like they could be Hawaiian, i.e. someone you and I know. There have been Oscar-nominated films that don't hold a candle to this once-hidden treasure. But don't take my word for it. See for yourself.

HondaReport.com Movie Review
Title: Whale Rider
Pupule’s Rating: * * * * stars

MPPR Rating: PG-13 (for minor reference to drugs, brief language)
Date of Viewing: Monday, November 3, 2003
Location: Dole Cannery

There’s an old saying—well, not ancient, but old—about how a day is best spent.

If you’ve had time to think deeply, laugh heartily and even cry, a full day has been had.

In this film from New Zealand, there is an odd, eerie, yet poignant moment when the central figure of the story, Pai, asks the simplest, but most sincere question any child could offer.

She asks her grandmother of grandfather, Koro: “Why doesn’t Paka like me?”

You may imagine that the average 12-year-old has plenty of questions about a crusty old grandpa, but this is not a typical pre-teen girl, and this is not a suburban America setting.

Pai is an extraordinary kid in a bucolic setting. The environment, set in rural New Zealand along the Eastern Coast, is locked into a Maori community that is poor in material resources and wealth, but rich in family ties, heritage and folklore. It is the latter and it’s rapid decline among the younger generation that has Koro worried to a fault. He seeks the male heir who will succeed the title, as is the traditional path every millennium.

Pai, played far beyond any conceivable limitation by Keisha Castle-Hughes, is a headstrong, yet silent, cerebral individual. Her thought process and steely determination have the force of a tidal wave, but she comes across as a gentle trade wind. The steely silence yields, however, to an inner drive to fill a void with her heritage. That drive is so obsessive, emotions are pushed to extremes in her quest.

Most ladies—and some men—might want to bring a box or two of Kleenex for this instant cinematic classic. (Don’t bother asking if I cried, since I won’t admit it unless you ask twice.)

Abandoned to her grandparents by her father after mom and her twin brother die during childbirth, she absorbs her grandfather’s traditional beliefs easily. In fact, though he is around Pai daily, Koro fails to recognize her natural disposition for the culture through ancient chants and warrior battle techniques. She is intoxicated by the myth of the Whale Rider—even after he opens an exclusive, boys-only school to perpetuate the Maori way.

Her father, played to frustration perfectly by Cliff Curtis, rejects his Koro’s insistence that he become the next chief. Porourangi succeeds in Europe with his art work, Koro rejects anything Western. That includes the notion of allowing girls to learn the ways of men, including the way of the Whale Rider.

It doesn’t stop the affable Pai. Devoid of complete, unconditional love from her grandpa—who, in a good mood, enjoys riding his bike with her as a passenger—and living far away from her dad, Pai lives in a world of imagination, and a powerful one at that. Hiding outside the windows and doorways of his sanctuary, she sneaks around and learns lessons from Koro as he teaches boys the traditions. She’s not just being a pest; she instinctually is drawn to her culture. With the help of her grandmother, Flowers, Pai stands her ground and yearns to learn more.

In that pocket of drama is the synergy of what the entire story is about, and more.

What author Witi Ihimaera and director-screenwriter Niki Caro have done with this tribal lore is use it simply a device, much like M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs,” where alien invasion was simply the instrument in uncoiling the raw-edged reality of a well-kept, superficially buried family tragedy.

In another sense, the perpetuation of folklore may seem unproductive or even banal. The fact of the matter, however, is that there is far more intertwined into this dilemma than mere idol worship. The small community is a microcosm of all native cultures, where beer drinking and unemployment are sad, hard facts of life. Yet, loyalty to family and community is still prevalent, which is obvious to Pai.

In creating the hot-and-cold relationship of Koro to his only grandchild, Ihimaera and Caro drew from a fundamental core of what literature’s finest conflicts derive from. If a great villain makes for a compelling tale, the villain becomes even more notorious—even charismatic—when he lives in the same house.

The ebbs and flows of this film—which is chock full of woven-in underwater shots of humpback whales—are as powerful when the sounds are nil as when they are busy.

In the end, it’s about more than a myth and even more than a girl’s right—and need—to be loved just as a boy. It’s about simple acceptance. Pai gains that love, but the only regret in this story is that she gains it conditionally.

What would have happened if Koro had not breached the traditional mold. What if she had remained locked in her so-called destiny as a female? For me, the ending didn’t justify the means, though it fit snugly with the struggle of this girl. In a world of horrible endings, this one did fit like a glove, and the multitude of messages still pointed to one thing: Goodness and purity of heart still have a place in everyone’s soul.

But unyielding Koro (Rawiri Paratene), who dominates his household—or often, he believes he does—never really got a final chance to exercise his free will. It took a miracle for him to accept his granddaughter as an equal to any boy—as a leader. Would he have stretched enough to see his own self-imposed limitations—and suffering—by virtue of choice on his own?

Perhaps it’s best left at that, knowing that the older generation of men in Maori culture still is unwilling to change traditions, leaving only supernatural instances as the reason to make exceptions. At its crux, that’s what “Whale Rider” is about.

Thankfully, it relied on the simplicity and intensity of a phenomenal young actress to get that point across. “Whale Rider,” in the end, gets its wish. It rides victoriously in every way.

Epilogue: I eventually took my nephew to the film. He enjoyed it, but as an honest 7-year-old, said, “It’s not a kids’ movie. It’s a growed-up movie.” He gave it 3 stars, which is fairly good considering “Spy Kids 2” got 4 stars from him.