MAHANA Friday 5th May 2017

Pics and Flicks

is proud to present

Mahana

An engrossing narrative on a grand scale

From the author of "The Whale Rider", a tale of family rivalry and reconciliation, set against the stunning backdrop of rural New Zealand in the 1960s.

Director:

Lee Tamahori

Writers:

John Collee (screenplay), Witi Ihimaera (novel)

Stars:

Temuera Morrison, Akuhata Keefe, Nancy Brunning
Mahana is the story of a powerful rivalry between two Maori families who make their living as shearers around Gisborne, on the east coast of the north island, in the early 1960s. In the history of Maori films, it is a landmark – it succeeds as an engrossing narrative on a grand scale about quotidian lives. It's neither paean to Maori spirituality (although there is a little of that), nor a film about the white oppression of Maori culture (although there's a little of that too). So much for what it isn't. What it is is a complete and convincing world, rooted in its own time and soil and way of thinking.  

Paul Byrnes on SMH Entertainment