Directed: Lee Tamahori
Written: Riwia Brown
Cast: Rena Owen and Temuera Morrison
Country: New Zealand
Running Time: 1HR 39mins
PLOT (Spoiler)
Beth left her small town and despite the disapproval of her parents, married Jake “the Muss” Heke. After eighteen years they live in an unkempt State House and have five children. Their interpretations of life and being Māori are tested. Their eldest daughter, Grace, keeps a journal in which she chronicles events as well as stories which she tells her younger siblings.
Jake is fired from his job and is satisfied with the unemployment benefit, spending most days getting drunk at the local pub with his friends, singing songs and savagely beating any patron whom he considers to have stepped out of line. He often invites crowds of friends back from the bar to his home for drunken parties. His wife “gets lippy” at one of his parties and he brutally attacks her in front of their friends. Beth turns to drink when things go wrong, with angry outbursts and occasional violence on a much smaller scale. Her children fend for themselves, resignedly cleaning the blood-streaked house after her beating.
Nig, the Heke’s eldest son, moves out to join a gang whose rituals include facial tattoos (in Māori culture called Tā moko). This usually shows the heritage of the person; in Nig’s case, he shows only the heritage of his mother, with the Moko located on only one side of his face. He is subjected to an inititation beating by the gang members, but then embraced as a new brother and later sports the gang’s tattoos. Nig cares about his siblings, but despises his father. He is angered when his mother is beaten, but deals with it by walking away.
The second son, Mark “Boogie” Heke has a history of minor criminal offences and is taken from his family and placed in a foster home as a ward of the state due to the situation with his parents. Despite his initial anger, Boogie finds a new niche for himself, as the foster home’s manager Mr. Bennett helps him embrace his Māori heritage. Jake does not care that Boogie is taken away; he comments that it will do him some good, to toughen him up a bit. Beth is heartbroken, and scrapes money together to visit him. Jake pays for the rental car from gambling winnings, but deserts the family to go to the pub and they never make the journey.
Grace, the Heke’s 13-year-old daughter, loves writing stories. Her best friend is a homeless boy named Toot who lives in a wrecked car. She despises the future she believes is inevitable and is constantly reminded of getting married and playing the role of the wife, which she believes is catering to one’s husband’s demands and taking beatings. She dreams of leaving and being independent and single.
Grace is raped in her bed by her father’s friend “Uncle Bully” who tells her that it is her fault for “turning him on” by wearing her “skimpy little nighty”. She becomes depressed. She tries to go to her friend Toot for support, smoking her first dope. Toot kisses her, but she reacts violently and storms out, believing him to be “just like the rest of them”. After wandering through the city streets, Grace comes home to an angry Jake with his friends. Bully asks for a goodnight kiss in front of everyone, to test his power over her. Grace refuses and her father tears her journal in two and nearly beats her up. She runs out to the backyard crying. Beth returns home from searching for her and goes outside looking for Grace, only to find that she has hanged herself from a tree branch.
Jake stays in the pub with his mates while the rest of the family take Grace’s body to a traditional Māori funeral ceremony. Beth stands up to him properly for the first time as he refuses to let her be taken to the marae; he has always felt second rate for not being in touch with his heritage, in his words, “a black bastard”. The film cuts back and forth between the mourning, Jake in the pub bottling it up and the family on the marae. Boogie impresses Beth with his Māori singing at the funeral and Toot says his goodbyes, telling her the gentle kiss was all he meant by it. Boogie reassures Toot that Grace loved him and Beth invites Toot to live with them.
Reading Grace’s diary later that day, Beth finds out about the rape and confronts Bully in the pub. Jake at first threatens Beth, but Nig steps between them, protecting his mother. He hands him Grace’s diary and Jake reacts by severely beating Bully and stabbing him with a glass bottle in the crotch. Beth blames Jake just as much as Bully for bringing home his violent friends. She leaves and states her intentions to leave with their children and return to her Māori village and traditions, defiantly telling Jake that her Māori heritage gives her the strength to resist his control over her. Jake hopelessly sits on a curb outside the pub as the family leaves, with sirens wailing in the background.
REVIEW
One of the most brutal but honest films you ever likely to see is Lee Tamahori’s 1994 debut feature Once Were Warriors. about what domestic abuse has over one Maori family, it doesn’t flinch away and show’s you head on it’s effects. Set in modern-day Auckland, where an indigenous people remains repressed, the Heke family is typical. Jake (Temuera Morrison), the father, is on welfare, leaving time to lift weights and go drinking with mates. Jake’s wife Beth (Rena Owen) has her work cut out, with five children to care for. It was hard enough to make ends meet before Jake got laid off; a maritime feast, courtesy of his final check, doesn’t kiss things better. Unwilling to deal with confrontation, Jake necks beer after beer in the local bar, moaning about women to Bully (Clifford Curtis).
The kids are powerless to act against this simmering conflict, so each evolves their own defence mechanism to keep out the fire. Nig (Julian Arahanga), the eldest, hangs with a local gang and waits for his initiation ceremony. Grace (Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell) writes to expunge the pain, spinning stories for her best-friend Toot (Shannon Williams). Boogie (Taungaroa Emile), too sensitive for this hell, is drifting way off course, stealing cars and the like. Only Polly (Rachael Morris) and Huata (Joseph Kairau) avoid Jake’s wrath, tiny enough to huddle under Beth’s wings. A happy if destitute home, at least until alcohol turns Jake bestial. Then all bets are off.
When you speak to anyone who’s just seen Once Were Warriors you can see what their immediate thought would be, they would say it’s a gruelling experience but a film they would want to watch again. This particular tale of disintegration is unbearable in its savagery, an excruciating journey to a place that no one sane would want to visit. ime and again your fists clench in sympathetic agony, stomach knotted and mind desperate to reel away. Even the end brings scant relief; if you’ve any heart you’ll be writhing and numbed.
Morrison is the bomb that rips the Heke family apart. The problem is that no one, not even Jake, knows the extent of his fuse; you’re just waiting for him to explode, to lash out with incredible force. Yet, at the same time, Morrison makes Jake charismatic, amusing and even loving. That’s the conundrum. Jake adores Beth and his kids, he’d kill to protect them. Jake is selfish and uncaring, so twisted and full of hate that he could kill those closest to him. Morrison’s performance is so coruscating that he binds these characteristics together, justifying Jake’s behaviour even as it destroys him.
Owen, the magnet for Jake’s rage, is equally impressive. If you’ve ever wondered why battered wives don’t just walk away from the violence, Owen’s performance contains the answer. She loves Jake, despite everything. It’s the good times, the fragments where Jake and Beth come together in a love song, that keep her going. Their relationship is one of extremes; they provoke scary emotional responses in one another. When the atmosphere is happy, Once Were Warriors shines with peaceful joy. Yet when booze clouds the vision, things turn ugly. Strangely, and this is in no way an excuse for Jake’s behaviour, Beth seems to enjoy lighting his touchpaper. As Jake states, Beth gets a bit too lippy. It’s a curious and utterly believable existence.
Technically Once Were Warriors is quite assured. When Jake snaps into uncompromising violence, the brief but effective beatings are superbly filmed and choreographed. D. Michael Horton’s editing slashes back and forth, cross-linking the very different lives of the Heke family members, reinforcing the cumulative sense of their hopelessness.
Owen and Morrison deliver top performances, only equalled by Gary Oldman’s domestic abuse drama Nil by Mouth, with Ray Winestone and Kathy Burke equaling them. Both went to star in Star War prequels but neither came close to top these roles, although Morrison did do two films I found very interesing from New Zealand one Tracker from 2010 with Ray winestone and MT Zion, a more friendly look at Maori life, I will probably review time in the future . I would put this up a some of the best films of the 90’s, director Lee Tamahori hasn’t got to close to topping this he made the worst Bond film in Die another Day and done a few stinkers in the States. Nearly Twenty years on, Warrior’s doesn’t lose it’s emotional punch and it’s a bit of a cult film (IMDB have it 8.0), so it still holds a high ranking in the film community. I give it 9.5/10.
Directed: Ian Mune
Written: Alan Duff
Cast: Temuera Morrison
Country: New Zealand
Running Time: 1HR 38mins
PLOT (Spoilers)
Jake “the Muss” Heke is now fighting to save his son Sonny from a gang lifestyle after his eldest son, Nig, is killed in a gangland shootout. Jake goes through a period of hopelessness as he tries to restore his family to a functioning state after his anger and drinking (depicted in the first film) tore them apart. He still has trouble accepting the old traditional ways of the Māori people, but he begins to realise the importance of family and regrets what his former actions have done to them. Towards the end of the film, Jake does his best to reconcile with his family, even going so far as to save his son’s life despite great personal risk to himself. This action, along with several others, serve to highlight Jake’s changing characteristics.
REVIEW
It’s often true when it comes to sequels that they never come close to the first films they are following, in some cases they live up and even surpass them from The Dark Knight to The Godfather Part II to Aliens and The Empire Strikes Back.
After the widespread appeal and success of Once Were Warriors, many were expecting the same from the follow up based on New Zealand author Alan Duff’s novel of the same name, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999), sadly it’s wasn’t of the same shockingly exhilarating calibre of its predecessor and went straight to Video in other countries, which is usually reserved for titles that are either of a dubious nature or have a limited widespread appeal. Which considering Warriors was such a critical and commercial hit on it’s release (it has a 8.0 on IMDB and is still considered a classic today) shows that film wasn’t any great shakes. I only found out a sequel was made a few years back, which how little seen the film has been. It’s even rarer to find a copy on Video even DVD. It was screened on ITV and Channel 4, usual at 3 or 4 in the morning.
It’s not even looked favourably upon by fan’s of Once Were Warriors, so no underground reputation and misunderstood classic cult movie. The sad truth is it sorely lacks the gut-wrenching intensity of its prequel. It’s basically took away the human aspects of the Maori Culture’s plight, the hard hitting subject of abuse at home and heart that was Warriors main points and turned everything into a all out not very good action thriller, Yes you got it right a action thriller.
The other downside to contributing to What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?’s weaknesses is the treatment of the character’s. Although Temuera Morrison’s Jake ‘the Muss’ and Nancy Brunning’s gang moll, Tania, are the only people fro this film that can hold their heads up high given good performances that ground the film somewhat. Although there can be no doubt as to the calibre of Morrison’s – or for that matter, Brunning’s – solid performances, it is difficult to accept their tragic circumstances, due to the distinct lack of credibility and the simplistic one-dimensional characterisation so evident in Duff’s limp screenplay.
My biggest probelm with the film overrall is it went from a hard hitting family drama into a formulaic B-grade action picture with no character development, the overuse of Violence, sex and rubbish dialogue. It’s one of the reason’s I’m glad it’s been ignored as it would totally ruin the great work done by the first film.
What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? comes across as a typical half-baked Hollywood film (albeit with a New Zealand director, Ian Mune) – shallow, predictable, and, in some instances, quite offensive to the intelligence of its demographic audience. There’s no intergrity bought by Mune. Some bright scene’s do stand out from the rubbish, such as when Jake sinks into an abyss of total despair and seems to perform an implied act of self-mutilation upon himself (the pain evident on Temuera Morrison’s face is palpable and, despite his character’s horrible temperament, one cannot help but feel sympathy for him) – but, together with Duff, the inept manner in which Mune treats the potentially powerhouse material ensures that they waste the film’s predominantly unknown, but immensely talented, cast.
The lack of a emotional core, Beth (Rena Owen) was Once were Warrior’s, is another big downfall What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?. Owen has nothing more then a Cameo in this film.
Occurring five years after the tortuous events depicted in Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? is essentially the story of Jake ‘the Muss’ Heke (Temuera Morrison) and his unconquerable struggle to triumph over his inner demons – his penchant for alcohol and his volatile temper. After his separation from Beth, Jake is fast becoming a pariah of sorts, increasingly alienating the few remaining friends he has left because of his unpredictable outbursts, which is also producing an undercurrent of tension in his relationship with his new partner, Rita (Edna Stirling). Jake’s hostility, understandably, frightens her, and we soon tread down the familiar path as the hints of domestic violence erupt into a scene of shattering physical abuse.
Now a firm member of the Kaipatu Kaahu outfit in South Auckland, the eldest Heke son, Nig (Julian Arahanga), is killed by members of a rival gang in a nocturnal clash, made possible through an elaborate ruse coordinated by the Kaipatu Kaahu’s warlord, Grunt (Lawrence Makaore). Nig’s girlfriend, Tania Rogers (Nancy Brunning in the film’s most evocative role), is painfully aware of the deception that cumulated in the death of her loved one, and begins to plan her intentions of avenging him. Tania’s desire for retribution sees her linking up with Sonny, the second eldest Heke boy, who, incensed at the manner of his brother’s end and seeking revenge, attempts to join another clan of urban warriors, the Black Snakes – headed by the demonic and calculating Apeman (Pete Smith).
Infiltrating the Black Snakes’ ranks in an effort to influence Apeman to assassinate the leader of the Kaipatu Kaahu, Tania and Sonny’s rash actions initiate a heated street war between the two opposing gang factions, placing the vengeful couple in mortal danger. Spurned by the accusations that he is responsible for Nig’s murder and his deep-rooted need for redemption and reconciliation with Beth, who is now living in a middle-class suburb and married to a social welfare officer, Jake finds himself in the unenviable position of wanting to change his life by refraining from violence, yet discovering that the only means in which he can protect Sonny from a similar fate is through the use of his fists.
It’s hard not to be critical on What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? as it follows a masterpiece of a profoundly distressing account of the impoverished and disadvantaged Heke family in Once Were Warriors, which became the biggest-grossing film in New Zealand history at the time, and the recipient of numerous awards from the international film community. Benefiting from an almost exclusive Maori cast exhibiting astonishingly natural acting ability (Morrison’s mesmerising performance was likened to that of Marlon Brando’s in On the Waterfront), a talented New Zealand production crew and director who each shared a close affiliation with their project’s subject matter – as well as adopting a take-no-prisoners approach with its unflinching depictions of violence and socio-political ideals – Once Were Warriors is, and proved to be, unsurpassable in its emotional and artistic intensity.
I personally think, a double DVD boxset should be given a release, as for fans of Once Were Warriors to see What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, just don’t go in expecting a classic like Warriors was. Temuera Morrison, is a brilliant screen presence and any scenes with him in the sequel are the film’s highlights but sadly we don’t get many and the huge change from the first film to the second hurt’s the film in my view. I give it 5/10, it’s not awful by any means just rather disappointing.
Sound and Vision 