Backbencher

The film Whale Rider is filmed in the setting of a Maori village in New Zealand. The movie begins with the birth of Pai and her twin brothers. Since the family is basically a blood line of leaders or chiefs of the Maori tribe, everything thinks that the next leader of their tribe has been born. The hopes of many are wiped away when the mother of the children and her son die soon after the birth. This doesn’t sit too well with people, especially Pai’s grandfather who is devastated because the next leader of the tribe is dead. He treats Pai pretty badly, putting the blame on her form her brothers death. Leadership qualities are shown throughout the movie in Pai, but she is never even considered as a possible leader for the tribe in the future. Since the next chief in line had died, the grandfather decides he needs to find the next leader somehow. He ends up starting a camp that is intended to find the next leader of the camp, and of course, he won’t let Pai join the group. Pai is very stubborn and attempts to join the camp anyways, but her grandfather is still not accepting. Secretly and without anyone knowing, Pai studies the ways of the chief. The name of the movie comes in to the picture when Pai is the only person in the tribe that is able to rescue the whales from the beach where they are stranded nearby. Pai proves to her grandfather and also the tribe that she is able to be a leader in the Maori tribe. This movie was pretty good, and depicted how Maori tradition can be a tough thing to change. I’m sure Pai’s grandfather realized that females where not leaders of the tribe in the past, but his eyes are finally opened when she does some amazing things.