Niki Caro’s film about a Maori community, Whale Rider, is perfect for screening at school. In other words, it will educate pupils about issues relating to tradition and its place in the contemporary world; it is not hard to understand; and it ends on a positive note. If you take that to mean that it’s a good movie rather than a great one, and that it lacks the complexity and revelation we expect of great movies, then you’d be right.
Koro (Rawiri Paratene) is the chief of this community, living in a small seaside town in New Zealand. They trace their ancestry back to a mythological figure called Paikea, the original “whale rider” who arrived at this island on the back of one of them. Consequently, whales are sacred to these Maoris, who do seem a long way from the depressed urban wife-beaters of Once Were Warriors, though a few of them are clearly in need of some positive motivation, or at least a reason to live other than drink and drugs.
Koro’s eldest son (Cliff Curtis) has declined the responsibilities of chieftainship. He’d rather be an artist in Europe. His wife, who died in childbirth, produced twins — a son and a daughter. The son, however, also died, leaving only Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), who is the apple of her grandfather’s eye, but not, as far as he’s concerned, chieftain material. That’s mostly because she’s a girl. The fact that she’s more interested in Maori heritage than anyone else doesn’t matter to the stubborn old man.
The relationship between Koro and Paikea is the centre of the movie, though Paikea’s grandmother (Vicky Haughton) is important too. She, like other Maori women as depicted here, are rather downtrodden — or at least they have to accept the appearance of a subordinate role, even when they are making the decisions. This is clearly a patriarchal society, and that’s why Koro can’t conceive of a female chief. He really is very blinkered, and despite some nice playing from Paratene it’s very hard not to become increasingly irritated with him.
Because of the film’s gentle, earnest tone, established from the start, and the fact that it has been marketed as a “feel-good” movie, we more-or-less know that it’s all going to work out fine — and that means Paikea (who is set up as clever, endearing, and so on, never mind the significant name) will triumph. So there’s no real tension or suspense, and Koro’s blatherings are just irksome. Personally, I sympathised most strongly with the son who cleared out as soon as he could. Paikea’s patience is astounding. Then again, she is only 10 years old.
But Whale Rider does tackle an issue of enormous importance in societies where ethnic traditions are being eroded by modernity and, now, globalisation. Certainly, such debates are vitally relevant to South Africa today, where “tradition” is often a way to avoid examining issues such as patriarchal and male-dominant attitudes. Whale Rider doesn’t question the validity of Maori tradition itself, either because its makers have no problem with it in general (though clearly the relegation of women is under fire), or because it is no more than “heritage”, which means it’s a largely symbolic cultural residue. For instance, all that fighting practice with special sticks and alarming facial expressions is not about repulsing any real physical enemy; it’s about building communal pride and so forth.
It’s not really within the brief of Whale Rider to examine the issue in all its complexity. It accepts “tradition” at face value, asking only that it include women. Still, it makes one think. As one should. Get those schoolkids talking!