Made in 1994, Once Were Warriors is a film that takes place in New Zealand and focuses in on the life of poverty and loss of traditional culture of the native Maori people. Beth Heke, the wife of an angry alcoholic and mother of five children, deals with hardships as her husband abuses her, one of her sons is sent to a correctional school, and one of her daughters writes fairy tales as a means of escape from the moral degradation all around her. Throughout the film, the children gain a better appreciation for their Maori heritage, learning self-discipline and what it means to look out for one another.
Conflicts between local and global ideas play a particularly important role in this film; the characters and the culture around them are caught in a battle between local traditional culture and more global culture. Global culture is portrayed negatively in this film, as more global-influenced rock music and westernized bars are associated with the macho, alcoholic culture that the father is immersed in and that brings down the family. Scenes of poverty and the use of graffiti also add to the negative portrayal of a more urban, globalized culture.
Maori culture, on the other hand, is portrayed positively. When Boogie is taken away from his family to go to a correctional school, where he is taught Maori traditions and dance, traditional culture is shown as being a good influence and having power to conquer poor behavior. The teacher at the school instills in Boogie pride for his heritage. Additionally, the mother’s tale of how she and her husband were married adds to this positive portrayal of Maori culture. The two of them used to live with their tribe, but the elders did not approve of their marriage, so they decided to leave. The fact that abandoning their culture has led them to the squalor that they presently deal with implies that Maori culture is superior.
Mise-en-scene plays a particular role in this dichotomy of a global and local culture clash through setting. The more urbanized, and therefore more globalized setting in the city is related to the global culture. This setting is full of graffiti, dark alleys, and filth. This gives a negative connotation to a life that is more globally influenced. When the family takes a road trip to a country-side setting, they visit the land where the Maori tribe lives and where the parents grew up. This setting, which represents the local culture, is a beautiful land of green grass, gentle hills, and pristine lakes, all bathed in golden sunlight. This setting represents the purity and bright joy to be had in returning to Maori life and starkly contrasts the darkness to be found in the city away from the Maori lifestyle.
Once Were Warriors shows both global and local influences and even goes as far to present a battle between the two. The film glorifies Maori traditions, while it treats a more globalized way of life disapprovingly for its role in marginalizing local culture.
I had not considered what the bar setting said about globalization, and I think this is a very good point. It is interesting to look at the effect that spreading habits have on the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really good review. I like how you don't just explain different global and local aspects of the film, but also how the global and local aspects are portrayed as either positive or negative. The summary was a perfect length and the analysis was also pretty insightful. I hadn't though of all the things you listed for the different global and local influences being simply positives or negatives.
ReplyDeleteI liked your review. I think the city was a place where the Maori people were forced to assimilate and leave behind their old culture. However, this proved to lead only to violence and tragedy, as the confused Maori lost their sense of pride and identity.
ReplyDeleteThis review offers insight into the plot, along with negative aspects such as setting, which draws readers in to want to go see the movie. I like how their was an immediate, short summary of the plot at the beginning of the review before going into detail of the Maori culture.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really think about the global aspects of this movie until I read this review. I thought you did a good job of explaining the local and global aspects of the movie and relating it to the mise-en-scene. This is a pretty good review because the summary was short and concise and the analysis was interesting.
ReplyDeleteGood job on the review. I liked the way you used the different types of lighting, one from the city and one from the country side, to represent the purity and the darkness of the maori people.
ReplyDeleteOverall good review. I like how you compared the western culture to Maori culture. It enhanced your overall argument.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if the story about how they married showed the Maori people in a positive light. The scene implied that the Maori people didn't want them to get married because of their ranks in the society not about Jack's character. If it were the latter, then I think it show the Maori people in a positive light because they saw his character. It was a good review. I hadn't really looked into the bar scenes and how every impact of Western culture brought with it hostility of grave outcomes.
ReplyDeleteThis review concisely addresses important elements of a world cinema blog. It briefs the plot and characters in relation to themes, it talks about national and global relevance, and backs up its claim with cinematic evidence. Great job in this regard! If there could be one way to improve, I might grab the readers attention more effectively by talking about the mood of the film, and relation to other films of a similar genre.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, you did an excellent job touching on both the global and local aspects of the film. I find the most interesting part to be about how each character embraces their culture in different ways. Some must be forced to embrace it, while others use it as a back bone to escape Jake's violence
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