Whale Rider...

[fajrdrako]

I watched the movie Whale Rider tonight. I've been wanting to see it since I saw the trailer, many months ago; didn't manage to get to it. The Oscars revived my interest.

Good movie.

I've requested the book it is based on from the library, curious to fill in some of the cultural gaps. It's a sort of coming-of-age-movie, or an identity movie; a Maori leader awaits the birth of his first grandson, but the surviving child of twins is the girl. Since a girl can't take the position of Chief, the grandfather looks for a replacement, consistently overlooking the girl's obvious merits and talents, though it was clear (at least to me!) that she was destined for the role.

There were many things I loved about it, one being that there were no villains. The phrase is used several times about various matters, "No one is to blame." The grandfather is making a mistake to overlook Upkeep’s skills, but he has reasons to make the mistake - his prejudice isn't spiteful - and she loves him. Many good characters - my favourite (besides Pukeia) was the wise but resigned grandmother.

And then there was that magnificent ocean.

Comments

[mos-self.livejournal.com]

Many good characters - my favourite (besides Pukeia) was the wise but resigned grandmother.

she was my favorite too!!
and yes, all the characters were good.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I liked this movie too, but it kind of konked out at the end for me. I was expecting more. :( I didn't want to watch it again, which means I didn't love it. But I did tear up during the film, which means I liked it and that the characters were good. I liked the acting. I liked the beginning of the film more than the end. It pulled me in and disappointed me.

[kathyh]

Many good characters - my favourite (besides Pukeia) was the wise but resigned grandmother.

I was going to agree here, and then I remembered that I liked *all* the characters too much to have a favourite (besides Pakeia). I loved the way it not only portrayed her life and her family's life, but the life of the whole community. Excellent film.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, they were all good - all very convincing. I also liked the 'fat, ugly' uncle who obviously enjoyed teaching his talented niece.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You expected more drama at the end? I liked what happened, but I would have liked more explanation of what happened at the very end. Had her father come for the ceremony of the boat, for a visit, or had he come home to stay? It was a little unresovled - but that was all right; the main plot of her relationship with her grandfather came to a satisfactory end.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It was; I want to read up on some of the customs we saw. I like the way it was portrayed, so naturalistic, not in a 'National Geographic' sort of way but as if we the viewers were all insiders too.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I just didn't 'get' the ending. It petered off in my eyes. What exactly did she do to get the whale back in the water? Ride it like a horse? Talk to it? Did the rest just follow? And why did she hold on once they were in the water and swimming? What was she doing? Why did no one run into the water after her? Big 'huh?' moments that distracted me from how much I was enjoying the relationships in the film. Maybe I'm stupid and couldn't catch the subtly. I could explain these things if I had to, abstractly, but probably not correctly or with much conviction. I think things could've been clearer.

In the end, the storyline concerning her destiny took away from what I thought was the best aspect of the film: the complex relationships.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

YOu weren't stupid; it was one of those movies that doesn't explain itself as it goes. I don't know what was happening there, I can only interpret.

So: as I see it, Pakeia's was a sort of recapitulation of the life of the original Pakeia - destined to be in his place despite the gender and time difference. So the whale was beached when she 'called it' in her song in the class recital. (The other whales followed it to the beach.) Realizing what she had done - calling the magnificent animal to its death - she tried to amend things by taking it back into the water. Essentially, riding it.

Why didn't she let go? Because (I conclude) to restore the balance - she had risked its life, and therefore must risk her own. Or perhaps because she had nothing to live for - being thwarted in her need to take up the life of the Chief, and not being the boy her grandfather wanted, she felt she had no real life to return to on land.

No one ran into the water after her because they didn't notice what she was doing till it was too late.

Things could certainly have been clearer but it wasn't the kind of movie that wanted to make things clear.

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

I wonder who found her then? Did she just wash ashore? I understand it's supposed to be a mythical story, but so much about the movie was rather realistic so the contrast tended to throw me off at times.

I suppose I shouldn't have thought too much about it. It lost me to a point where I didn't enjoy the movie as much as I should have because I was trying to figure it out.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

She must have washed ashore, like the beached whales.

You're right that it went from modernistic-psychological realism to myth and back again without seeming to care much which it was. I liked that, but it was particularly obvious at the end. Maybe it's a case where they had to cut too much for time, like in The Return of the King.

Love your icon!

[monsieureden.livejournal.com]

Yes, editing can do that to a movie.

*giggles over her icon* :) Isn't it naughty?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And beautiful, too!