Utu is translated (by the Maori people) not as revenge, but as balanced exchange or reciprocity.
Anzac Wallace, who plays the role of the Maori militant, was previously a trade union leader and had never acted before
Re-released in 2013 as Utu Redux after cinematographer Graeme Cowley saw a copy of the film on Maori Television and was dismayed at how much the film had deteriorated. When he discovered there were no existing prints of the film in good condition he worked with the original director Geoff Murphy and editor Michael Horton to recreate the film from original disparate negatives, fine-tuning the cut in the process, but otherwise recreating the film in its original glory. The refurbished version premiered at the New Zealand International Film Festival in Wellington's Embassy Theatre on 26 July 2013.
The gag in which the old Maori rebel sticks his face in flour and pretends to be a pakeha is very likely based on a stand up bit by Godfrey Cambridge from the 1960s in which his young son uses his mother's makeup to appear white. The punchline in both cases is almost identical.