Backbencher

Once Were Warriors was directed by Lee Tamahori in 1994 and features actor Cliff Curtis that I remembered from the awesome movie, Whale Rider. The story is set in Aukland, New Zealand and follows the story of Jake Heke and his family. At first, I figured that this would a normal movie, until I got into it and saw how Jake's drinking takes over him, how he beats his wife, and how it affects his family. Beth's wife is in conflict over whether of not to leave him. Jake's children all have unique problems of their own (getting in trouble with the law, street gangs, ect).

It is difficult to enjoy this movie and would be a tough film to watch more than once, though I would reccommend that people see it just to better understand not only something that is a problem in NZ, but also a problem in America (abuse). I also read the book Once Were Warriors, so it was interesting to me to see how the two tied in to one another (similarities, things they left out).

The acting in this film was well-done. Cliff Curtis did as good of a job as he did in Whale Rider, which coincidentally is also filmed in New Zealand and deals with a messed up family. It makes me wonder whether this is a New Zealand problem of family disfunction or if it is big in Austrlia as well.

It was interesting to see how Jake affected his entire family and not just his wife, however I really didn't need to watch a movie to know this. Overall, I guess I would give it a 7 or 8/10 just because it's not one of those movies that you'd own and watch again and again. It is worth viewing once though.