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Poster (c) Newmarket Films
If a touching and moving movie can get away with a fart joke, that’s amazing. And Whale Rider is just that. Although it’s not as good as other spectacular art-house dramas, such as Nowhere in Africa, it’s still a crowd-pleasing film that brings you into a culture that you never really thought of before. In a voice-over by Pia (Keisha Castle-Hughes), we learn the history of the Maori people, where its leader came over by riding on a whale (hence the name Whale Rider). Cut to a hospital, where Pia, along with her brother, is being born. They are the last in the descendant of the whale rider, so Pia’s brother would become the chief. However, he and his mother both die during both. Pia’s grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) doesn’t want anything to do with her, but ends up taking care of her.
Throughout the movie, Pia tries to win her grandfather’s acceptance; coping with her father’s fleeting appearances, and growing up. Whale Rider is a beautiful cinematic experience. Not only does it have lush landscapes, but also it’s a deeply complex coming-of-age tale. It’s more than your usual he-learns-a-lesson story; Pia learns the true value of family, which is a better lesson that in most of the force-fed crap-drama that’s out in theaters now.
Like Nowhere in Africa, it should be nominated for Oscars for acting but, of course, it won’t be. Paratene is superb, one of the best acting performances of the year, while Castle-Hughes turns out to be the best child actor since Haley Joel Osment. It’s movies like these that I can’t say that much about, because you need to experience it to fully appreciate it.
Rated PG-13 for brief language and a momentary drug reference.
Review Date: August 3, 2003