I saw this to keep my wife company. For the first five minutes, I wondered what I had let myself in for. The format is of a kind more often seen on TV documentaries than the big screen, yet the grandeur of the landscape and the sweep and depth of the story surely deserve this treatment. I suspect that the movie will not be widely displayed outside of New Zealand, but if you are interested in New Zealand and the Maori, it is well worth trying to find it. The astonishing thing is that this movie tells the story of real people and real events that still influence the political life of New Zealand almost a century later. Don't go looking for light entertainment. This is serious but beautifully crafted stuff.
5 Reviews
Rena Owen is So Good
leighcatley23 October 2008
Many movie-going Kiwis are still recovering from Vincent Ward's 'Vigil' which plunged us all into a world of grim grey despair.
And still more of us have no trouble remembering how we felt leaving the movie theatre after watching Rena Owen in Once Were Warriers. That was grim too.
And now here they are, both together, telling another story which is not just grim, but downright sad.
But it's beautifully done. Ward has an eye for the detail of human frailty which somehow he manages to get up there on the big screen, whether he's recounting fact (like this story) or fiction.
It's just brilliant work and Rena, girl, you are all class.
And still more of us have no trouble remembering how we felt leaving the movie theatre after watching Rena Owen in Once Were Warriers. That was grim too.
And now here they are, both together, telling another story which is not just grim, but downright sad.
But it's beautifully done. Ward has an eye for the detail of human frailty which somehow he manages to get up there on the big screen, whether he's recounting fact (like this story) or fiction.
It's just brilliant work and Rena, girl, you are all class.
A biographical documentary-drama exploring the remarkable lives of an elderly Māori woman of the Tuhoe tribe, Puhi, and her mentally ill adult son, Niki.
yajra-smith15 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A truly extraordinary documentary-drama created over a period of thirty years or more. In this film, Ward explores the life story of Puhi, an elderly Māori woman of the Tuhoe iwi (tribe), and her relationship with her mentally ill adult son, Niki. This story has been masterfully told by Ward, who lived with Puhi and Niki over an 18 month period during the 1970s.
Puhi believed she had been cursed, and to understand why this was, Ward leads the viewer into New Zealand's Urewera ranges - a beautiful yet brutal terrain - to learn more about Puhi's life. He draws on his own memories and early footage, interviews with her family and community, and extensive research to piece together the experiences that shaped her remarkable life and her world view.
Ward discovers that Puhi had been selected as a bride for one of the prophet Rua Kenana's sons and that she was the mother of 14 children. She had also experienced a succession of tragedies and witnessed many extraordinary events, including the 1916 police raid on the Tuhoe iwi. The film re-creates many of these dramatic scenes from Puhi's life with imagination, sensitivity and insight. These re-enactments are interspersed with early footage, interviews, and Ward's own narrative, which is never intrusive nor excessive. Ward provides us with glimpses of the Tuhoe people, their history, their communities, their prophet, Rua Kenana, and their spirituality. The multiple narratives are drawn together to form a very moving and compelling account of Puhi's life, her love for Niki, and her daily struggle to survive. And, it should be said, Ward navigates the documentary clear of romanticism or over-sentimentality.
'Rain of the Children' is a challenging film but it is also immensely rewarding. The score and cinematography are of the highest caliber. It will live with you for weeks after. This is, without question, the finest NZ documentary-drama I've seen.
Puhi believed she had been cursed, and to understand why this was, Ward leads the viewer into New Zealand's Urewera ranges - a beautiful yet brutal terrain - to learn more about Puhi's life. He draws on his own memories and early footage, interviews with her family and community, and extensive research to piece together the experiences that shaped her remarkable life and her world view.
Ward discovers that Puhi had been selected as a bride for one of the prophet Rua Kenana's sons and that she was the mother of 14 children. She had also experienced a succession of tragedies and witnessed many extraordinary events, including the 1916 police raid on the Tuhoe iwi. The film re-creates many of these dramatic scenes from Puhi's life with imagination, sensitivity and insight. These re-enactments are interspersed with early footage, interviews, and Ward's own narrative, which is never intrusive nor excessive. Ward provides us with glimpses of the Tuhoe people, their history, their communities, their prophet, Rua Kenana, and their spirituality. The multiple narratives are drawn together to form a very moving and compelling account of Puhi's life, her love for Niki, and her daily struggle to survive. And, it should be said, Ward navigates the documentary clear of romanticism or over-sentimentality.
'Rain of the Children' is a challenging film but it is also immensely rewarding. The score and cinematography are of the highest caliber. It will live with you for weeks after. This is, without question, the finest NZ documentary-drama I've seen.
What a wonderful movie.
pipi_kawhia22 January 2009
I went to this movie with some reluctance, having endured the River Queen" I was hoping that Vincent Ward had got his mojo back. And he has. This story is a New Zealand story, but first and foremost its a Maori story. I am not Tuhoe, but I knew a bit about Kenana and the Uruweras. But this movie was wonderful, it has a myriad of themes that take you on different journeys, and the cinematography is beautiful. Vincent was respectful and did the family proud, producing a docu-drama that I believe is of award winning status. I loved this movie, I cant wait to get the DVD and buy it for all my family to watch. Thank you Vincent for this wonderful gift, Thank you Tuhoe, and thank you to the family of Puhi and Niki (wont let me write in Maori)
no longer ashame
himarcandduke8 June 2008
hello, nanny Puhi was my nanny, and Nikki was my uncle, we lived around the corner at Whakarae from them, after school or if I wanted to get away from Daddy that's where I would be even go for a feed. Po Nikiniki was mad but he was our mad family member, and we didn't call him a mental person, because we would have got a good kick up the ass, and that's saying it mildly. They were people who went around doing their own business, although nanny did all the hard work. She talked to herself, we as children laughed at the two of them, we would even tease them, but we were kids what did we know, I am a qualified Maori mental health support worker who now has a understanding of barriers that prevent unwell people getting better. I have a lot more respect for mentally challenged people. As a child I was so ashamed to call him my uncle and Puhi my nanny.
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