OK - I'm going against the grain here - but I just have to say that I thought this movie was pretty awful.
I can only conclude that the rave reviews it's received (and folk's appreciative comments here) are the result of a general 'starvation' of good, thoughtful indie movies. The result is that when one finds a stale slice of bread it's mistaken for a gourmet dinner...
Where do I start?
The overall premise is that indigenous people finding themselves living in an alien cultural environment need to 'rediscover' their cultural roots in order to survive psychologically both as individuals and as a group. Added to this is the concept that the culture of any given people is somehow intrinsically 'good'; except for modern Western culture which is some how intrinsically 'bad'.
I simply don't agree with either of these two simplistic premises. There is good and bad in all things. We cannot filter and cherry-pick from the past and then compare it to the fullness of the present.
Further more the movie then adds insult to injury by applying a veneer of liberal feminist ideology to the already shaky foundations of the 'old culture is good' concept. The reasoning is presumably that one only needs to add the magic ingredients of the 'liberated female psyche' to the 'patriarchal noble warrior' concept to end up with a fine brew of - well I don't know what - maybe some sort of 'cultural pudding' at best.
I don't know anything about the true indigenous culture of the people portrayed in this film. All I know about them is what is presented to me in the film. And what is presented is this:
1. A patriarchal warrior society it which men fight their 'enemies' then hopefully kill them and eat them. The eating bit is no joke - this is why the boy's are taught to stick their tongues out at their 'enemies'.
2. And a culture where boys are being taught how to fight and kill from an early age.
3. I assume that the long-boat portrayed in the movie is a warship; but this is not made clear. It could have been for hunting - but I would not deduce that given it's decoration or construction which seems more war like?
4. This society that has some sort of mythical link to whales which somehow represent their link to nature and their ancestral past. This is the 'fuzzy' bit that sort of lends authority to them - ie if the whales think it's OK then it must be OK.
Now although this all seems very glamorous', 'ethnic' and they look great in their outfits and the shouting and facial grimaces are fun. But the film makers are not really willing to take all this to it's logical conclusion; either by A) condemning the militarism of the youths, or at least B) actually showing the boys attacking and eating an enemy (I'm not kidding!).
Instead they opt for some fairly-land, off-the-scale take on the whole thing where the whole show is 'anointed' with some sort of 'meaning' with the whales as the high-priests. This is hollowed-out and sanitized 'culture' masquerading as 'deep'.
SPOILER.... SPOILER.... SPOILER.....
The final scene is particularly awful in this regard. Everyone is all dressed-up and now 'happy' and 'fulfilled' acting out the pageant of their 'new life'. The boat cuts through the water - the family and locals reunited. But where is it going? A quick trip round the bay that's where; and then it's back on with the jeans and down the pub.
Now all this MIGHT just past muster if somehow the story of the young girl was actually able to deepen the whole show. But what does she want? Just to take her place as the leader of the clan. But to be honest - given the true values of this 'culture' as presented in the film this is just not possible and clearly against it's whole structure and core identity.
In that culture it's just not a woman's place. It's a man's job. Sorry - that's just the way it is. People often rant on about the value of a society's or group of people's 'culture'. We lament the passing and destruction of such cultures; and long television documentaries are devoted to a close exploration and study of their every nuance.
But all this is thrown out the window just to try and satisfy our 'modern' sensibilities; and given half a chance we will whip out the scalpel and perform a quick bit of 'culture-surgery' to fix some imagined genetic fault.
But we end up with a Frankenstein.
Does this girl REALLY want to be a killer and eat her enemies? Or just she just want to be in charge and take her 'rightful' place. Sure, she seeks the love and approval of her Grandfather; and she feels a mystical attachment to the 'old ways'. But can film makers really tamper with such things just to make feel-good movies?
Although she advances her own position; no dent at all is made on the patriarchal society she now leads. The women still dress in their fancy outfits and sing on the beach like a bunch of cheer-leaders; whilst the men folk do the rugged bit with the oars in the boat. At the end she's not even made-up like a warrior - just fresh-faced and innocent with her protective Grandfather smiling lovingly with his arm around her.
Sorry, this is all meaningless pap. It's just an aimless trip down memory lane with a bit of dancing and chanting by the local 'natives'. The whales are thrown it to give it a bit of an eco-feely-sort-of-thingy. To top it all the acting is flat and one-dimensional; and the story turgid and predictable.
The audience have been tricked into believing they have had a rare and true glimpse of some higher-plane of existence accessible only by, and through, some now defunct and lost culture which has been re-invoked especially to bring some universal 'truth' into their otherwise soulless lives.
Alas; they are just package tourists, watching a cheap distorted pageant put on by the 'locals' for their amusement. And they are so fooled, they even hang around in the movie theatre at the end to watch the titles...
A stale slice of bread for sure - not a gourmet meal in sight.
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