Once Were Warriors

Released by: Film Movement
Released on: September 6th, 2016.
Director: Lee Tamahori
Cast: Rena Owen, Temuera Morrison, Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, Julian Arahanga
Year: 1994
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The Movie:

Based on Alan Duff's novel, Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once Were Warriors, the director's debut feature, takes place in the south Auckland slums. Here we meet a woman named Beth Heke (Rena Owen) who lives in a tenement house for New Zealand's native Maori people. Beth lives with her husband Jake (Temuera Morrison) and their children. Jake has a serious drinking problem and it isn't uncommon for him to beat her, occasionally in front of their kids.

When Jake loses his job, Beth does what she can to keep her family from falling apart. Their oldest son, Nig (Julian Arahanga), has moved out of the home and fallen in with a traditional Maori gang. He doesn't want anything to do with his father. One of their other sons, Boogie (Taungaroa Emile), is in trouble with the law. When his parents fail to show up for his court hearing, he's thrown into a detention center. Grace (Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell) seems to have her head on straight - straight enough that she can't help but question why her mother stays with her father when he is the way he is. As such, she spends more time hanging out with her drug addled boyfriend Toot (Shannon Williams), who lives in an abandoned car than she does trying to help out at home.

“People show their true feelings when they're drunk.”

Things go from bad to worse for the Heke's when Jake has some friends over. After they get hammered and Beth finds out that she's squandered every penny of their savings, she lays into him. Things get violent again, Jake beats her as bad or worse than he's ever beaten her before. Shortly after, an unexpected tragedy strikes and throws the family into further dysfunction and disarray leaving Beth - who is no angel herself - with no choice but to take action.

Feel good movie of the year this is not but you have to admire how the film tackles its themes - domestic violence, substance abuse, native issues - without flinching. The story and the violence that it contains is pretty brutal at times, but Tamahori pulls this off without making the film feel exploitative or crass. Rather, things remain quite grounded and, unfortunately, all too realistic. By setting the film in and amongst the Maori people, Once Were Warriors successfully raises awareness to some of the issues that would seem to still plague them: alcoholism, substance abuse, poverty. At the same time, we see some of the characters cling with great determination to their peoples' roots, taking pride in their national identity and unwilling to let go of their culture. This is all presented with a fairly non-judgmental tone. Tamahori shows us that these people have problems, some of those problems are clearly self-inflicted, but so too does he show us that there are those willing to do what it takes to better themselves.

Shot on location, the film does a great job of bringing us into the world that these characters inhabit. We get a feel for their lifestyle during the scenes that take place inside the family home, but so too do we gleam just as much from those scenes that take place outside of that location. The bars, the streets, the back alleys. This is complemented by great attention to detail in regards to the way that the Maori characters presents themselves, particularly those who identify with the more traditional aspects of their culture. As such, there are characters decorated with tattoos not just on their arms or chests but all over, often times covering their faces. This is instantly attention grabbing, intimidating in a way, but in keeping with the way that things are in the real world. Lee Tamahori didn't have a massive budget to work with here, but he gets everything that he needs to up on the screen.

As good as the film's story and production values are, however, the performances are where the film really earns its highest marks. Julian Arahanga is quite strong here as the eldest and most rebellious of the Heke's children. Rena Owen is amazing and incredibly convincing as Beth. She knows she shouldn't stay with a man who treats her the way that Jake does, but she can't fight her attraction to him and she really does what to keep her family unit intact. Temuera Morrison is an absolute beast in the film, flying off the handle with terrifyingly convincing rage. He's also able to handle the more subdued, dramatic parts of the film as well. He's even likeable when he's just hanging out and not losing his temper (which is a huge part of what makes the situations portrayed here so complex). Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell is also excellent as their daughter, bringing to the movie, through her character, a sense of hope, however short lived that hope might be.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Once Were Warriors arrives on Blu-ray from Film Movement in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.78.1 widescreen and it looks very good. The image is quite clean, showing only a few minor specks now and again, while film grain is evident but never overpowering or distracting. Colors are really nicely reproduced here, black levels are nice and the darker scenes thankfully avoid crush and show pretty strong delineation even when the lights are low. Texture and detail are both frequently quite impressive both in foregrounds and in backgrounds. No obvious noise reduction has been applied while compression artifacts and noise reduction are non-issues. This is a very strong, film-like transfer and quite a substantial upgrade over the older domestic DVD release.

The primary audio option on the disc is a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track presented in English (and occasionally Maori) with subtitles optional provided in English only. There are no problems to note here. The dialogue is clean and well balanced and the use of music in the film really benefits from the stronger clarity of the lossless mix. Hiss and distortion are never problematic and there's good range and depth to appreciate here. A Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track is also included.

The main extra on the disc is a featurette that runs just under twelve minutes in length. Here some of the cast members are interviewed about their roles in the film, their thoughts on the picture and on some of the topics that the picture deals with. We also get some input from the director along with some behind the scenes footage and clips from the film.

We also get trailer for the feature and bonus trailers for a few other Film Movement Classics titles soon to be available on Blu-ray. Menus and chapter selection are also found on the disc. Included inside the Blu-ray case along with the disc is an insert booklet containing an essay on the film from New Zealand cinema expert Peter Calder. Various international releases of the film have had more to offer in the extra features department than this disc (a commentary, other featurettes) but unfortunately those have not been carried over to this otherwise very nice presentation.

The Final Word:

Once Were Warriors hits with as much power now as it did when it first came out more than twenty years ago. The story is well written, the direction very strong and the performances pretty much perfect. Film Movement's Blu-ray release is a little light in the extra features department but it presents this legitimate classic in very nice shape. Highly recommended!

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!