 • About the ratings • Write your own review • Back to main page ![[]](http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/06/93/06/image_6936.gif){kind=small} Ancient legend can't contain youth in radiant tale of modern Maori
By Chris Garcia American-Statesman Film Critic Posted: June 27, 2003 At a small seaside village in New Zealand, the tradition-wed Maori await their next tribal prophet, a direct descendant of the so-called whale rider who founded their home once upon a time. When the villagers say "whale rider," they really do mean a guy riding a whale. Indeed, the village proudly displays a shiny wooden totem of the whale rider. He has a round head and an O-shaped mouth that suggests sudden alarm. The little fellow looks like Mr. Bill straddling the back of a big red fish. By now you might ask if the movie, a modern fable about a willful lass who marshals girl power to challenge ancient tradition, is taking us for a ride. But "Whale Rider," the gently moving debut by writer-director Niki Caro, is too somber for cheeky business. It's as pure and prosaic as a tale passed down from the oral tradition, kissed by a shimmer of mysticism that imbues it with the wonder of myth. Its dearth of levity is compensated by a wealth of heart and humanity. The movie, not surprisingly, has been getting near-unanimous raves by urban critics, a breed of film watcher predisposed to small films that illuminate the lives and ethnography of native peoples in lands said critics will never visit. (I confess I'm one of them.) Recent examples include the explosion of Iranian cinema and the epic Inuit drama "The Fast Runner," with which "Whale Rider" shares an integrity born of artless necessity. Not all of these films are exemplary. "Whale Rider" is not a great film, although it boasts its share of stunning visuals and a poised, honest performance from newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes. She plays Pai, the 12-year-old who stares the Maori's fiercely patriarchal heritage in the eye and makes it blink. Since birth, Pai has been treated as something of a runt in the family. She was born with a twin brother who died at birth. Her grandfather, the village chief, had pinned all his hopes of a male heir on the boy. Crushed, her grandfather, whose name is Koro (Rawiri Paratene), recruits boys to train as worthy heirs. Pai wants to fulfill Koro's dream of tribal fate and tries to participate in the training, which only piques his fury. Koro is kind to the girl, but his abiding disappointment gives his love a serrated edge. Checked by decorum, his rancor has a muted quality, as if he's raging underwater. Still, Pai is determined to crash the ramparts of male-ruled tradition. For such an elemental story, director Caro leaves several plot points undeveloped and fails to create a more substantive portrait of the clan and its culture. It's never clear why a new chief is so important to the community. There's mention of the leader guiding his people "out of darkness," though what darkness isn't indicated. Caro streamlines the story into a wholesome empowerment fable whose inevitability muffles the film's emotionally charged ending. What's left to admire is abundant, particularly young Castle-Hughes, whose self-possessed spunk drives "Whale Rider." With her black curls and tomboy androgyny, she recalls a preteen Jennifer Beals. It's an almost rugged quality she has, which allows the mulish girl to put a 1,000-year-old myth to shame, rendering it fuzzy and moot. Now that's girl power. | |||||||
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