Once Were Warriors

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Once Were Warriors, published in 1990, was New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel. It was the basis for the 1994 film directed by Lee Tamahori, and starring Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison. It tells the story of an urban Maori family, the Hekes, and portrays the disturbing reality of domestic violence.

Contents

1 Plot summary
2 Production and awards
3 Popular and critical reception
4 See also
5 Reference
6 External links

Plot summary

The novel is set in the fictional town of Two Lakes, clearly based on the town of Rotorua where Alan Duff grew up ("Rotorua" literally translates as "lake two"), while the film takes place in an urban area of Auckland. The story deals with domestic violence and degradation within a contemporary Mãori family.

Beth Heke left her village and despite the disapproval of her parents she married Jake "Da Muss" Heke. After eighteen years they live in a slum and have five children. Their interpretations of life and being Maori are tested. Since Beth is from a more traditional background she related to the old ways, while Jake, whose family are descended from slavery, is an interpretation of what some Maori have become.

Jake is unemployed and spends most of the day getting drunk at the local pub with his friends. Here, he is in his element, buying drinks, singing songs and savagely beating any other patron who he considers to have stepped out of line (Hence his nickname of 'Da Muss' - Muss being short for Muscle). He often invites huge crowds of friends back from the bar to his home for wild parties. While Jake portrays himself as an easy going man, out for a good time, he has a vicious temper, especially when drunk, as revealed when his wife dares to 'get lippy' at one of his parties and he beats her to a pulp in front of their shocked friends.

Nig, the Heke's eldest son, moves out to join a street gang whose rituals include facial tattoos. He hates his father with a passion.

Second son Boogie is taken away and put into a foster home for delinquent boys, when Beth is unable to show up and represent him in court, due to the beating Jake has given her. Grace, the Heke's thirteen-year-old daughter, loves writing stories, as an escape from the brutality of her real life. Her best friend is a drug-addicted homeless boy named Toot who lives in a car carcass. He is the one who really cares for her.

Grace hangs herself after sharing a terrible secret with her diary: she had been raped by her father’s friend 'Uncle' Bully, whom Jake regularly brought to the house for parties. When Beth reads the girl’s diary she finds out the truth and tells Jake, who reacts in the only way he knows, using violence and beating Bully almost to death in their local pub.

The film ends with Beth and the rest of her family leaving Jake and returning to her Mãori village and traditions. It is not just a story about another troubled family but about people who have been robbed of their own land and culture and have to face poverty and degradation.

Production and awards

The film was produced by Communicado Productions, its first feature film.

The film won best film at the New Zealand Film & Television Awards, Durban International Film Festival, Montreal Film Festival and Rotterdam Film Festival. It also became at the time the highest grossing film in New Zealand, surpassing The Piano and Jurassic Park.

A disturbingly real exposé of the results of poor communication skills, Once Were Warriors impacted strongly on audiences, many of whom recognised and were forced to confront the parallel events in their own lives.

The book had a sequel, What Becomes of The Broken Hearted?, which was also released as a film in 1999. It was poorly received compared to the original.

Popular and critical reception

This film is highly controversial, and led to government reports on domestic violence in New Zealand. Many men in New Zealand who abused their wives admitted to "having a 'Warriors' problem."

It has, in international circles, led to a characterising of Maori as "all being like Jake."^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Reference

Thompson, K. M. (2003). Once Were Warriors: New Zealand's first indigenous blockbuster. In J. Stringer (Ed.), Movie Blockbusters (pp. 230 - 241). London: Routledge.

External links