Film review: Ka Whawhai Tonu

Ka Whawhai Tonu tells the story of the siege of Ōrākau Pa.

Ka Whawhai Tonu (PG, 115 mins) In cinemas now. In te reo Māori with subtitles.

Directed by Mike Jonathan

Last year’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon (Martin Scorsese) paved the way for Ka Whawhai Tonu (Mike Jonathan), both about indigenous people versus colonialists, told respectively in Osage and te reo Māori.

Ka Whawhai Tonu, a fictional version of the siege of Ōrākau Pa in 1864, has romantic entanglements and characters with relevance for our times as well as their own, and sees them put in danger, exposed to the brutality of war, fighting back. Game of Thrones comes to mind.

Recorded history tells us that in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1850s, Rewi Maniapoto emerged as a prominent supporter of the Kīngitanga movement.

When General Cameron’s British imperial forces invaded Waikato, intending to see the end of the Kīngitanga movement, Rewi Maniapoto led Waikato Māori and Tūhoe in a desperate stand against them.

When Cameron called on the defenders of Ōrākau Pa to surrender, Rewi Maniapoto is said to have replied: “E hoa, ka whawhai tonu mātou, Ake! Ake! Ake!” (We will fight on, forever and ever!).

The film tells the story of that siege, of 300 Māori against 1400 British cavalry, through the eyes of two love-struck teenagers from opposing sides: a locally recruited soldier Haki (Paku Fernandez), son of officer Captain Morgan (Jason Flemyng) and a Māori mother, who falls in love with Kopu (Hinerangi Harawira-Nicholas), a reluctant prophet.

Westerns such as The Last of the Mohicans create something of a context, like Ka Whawhai Tonu lamenting the loss of landscapes and the closing of the cultural frontier.

Unlike Rudall Hayward’s 1940 film The Last Stand, in which Māori at Ōrākau Pa were decimated, Ka Whawhai Tonu shows that although the Māori defenders, a third of whom were women, were outnumbered, their spirit survived.

Written by Tim Worrall with the assistance of Sundance Native Lab, te reo comes across as a powerful and sophisticated language; any English spoken by Māori is intentionally stilted.

With a strong script in te reo, exquisite landscape and battle scene photography by Grant McKinnon and music by Arli Liberman and Tiki Taani, an Academy Award for Best International Feature Film beckons.

One of the film’s talented newcomers is Naatana Mika as Puku, a child exposed not only to battle but to eye-opening adult behaviour.

Working as part of a large team of Māori creatives, technicians, extras and experienced actors, all the up-and-coming young actors will have seen film-making first-hand and benefited from working with established actors including Miriama Smith as Turama, Temuera Morrison as wise leader Rewi Maniapoto and Cliff Curtis as conflicted missionary pastor, Wi Toka.

Some viewers will recall Merata Mita’s classic Utu (1984), the story of warrior Te Wheke, a Māori collaborator during the New Zealand Wars.

Director Mike Jonathan told Flicks two weeks ago that Utu was an inspiration for his whole career.

“I was nine years old, watched it in the Taumarunui Regent Theatre with my mum, seeing Māori faces on the big screen, and falling in love with Merata Mita—that was my first film crush.”

Mike Jonathan’s debut honours Merata Mita and packs a real punch.

★★★★