Whale Rider (2002)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Niki Caro

Writers:

Witi Ihimaera (novel)
Niki Caro (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 July 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

One young girl dared to confront the past, change the present and determine the future

Plot:

A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.

Plot Keywords:

New Zealand | Tradition | Maori | Canoe | Whale

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 29 wins & 28 nominations

Cast

Keisha Castle-Hughes	...	Paikea
Rawiri Paratene	...	Koro
Vicky Haughton	...	Nanny Flowers
Cliff Curtis	...	Porourangi
Grant Roa	...	Uncle Rawiri
Mana Taumaunu	...	Hemi
Rachel House	...	Shilo
Taungaroa Emile	...	Willie
Tammy Davis	...	Dog
Mabel Wharekawa	...	Maka (as Mabel Wharekawa-Burt)
Rawinia Clarke	...	Miro
Tahei Simpson	...	Miss Parata
Roi Taimana	...	Hemi's Dad (as Roimata Tamana)
Elizabeth Skeen	...	Rehua
Tyronne White	...	Jake (as Tyrone White)
Taupua Whakataka-Brightwell	...	Ropata
Tenia McClutchie-Mita	...	Wiremu
Peter Patuwai	...	Bubba
Rutene Spooner	...	Parekura
Riccardo Davis	...	Maui
Apiata Whangaparita-Apanui	...	Henare
John Sumner	...	Obstetrician
Sam Woods	...	Young Rawiri
Pura Tangira	...	Ace
Jane O'Kane	...	Anne
Aumuri Parata-Haua	...	Baby Paikea

Directed by
Niki Caro

Writing credits
Witi Ihimaera		(novel)
Niki Caro		(screenplay)

Produced by
John Barnett	....	producer
Reinhard Brundig	....	co-producer
Bill Gavin	....	executive producer
Linda Goldstein Knowlton	....	executive producer
Frank Hübner	....	producer
Witi Ihimaera	....	associate producer (as Witi Ihimaera)
Tim Sanders	....	producer

Original Music by
Lisa Gerrard

Cinematography by
Leon Narbey

Film Editing by
David Coulson

Casting by
Diana Rowan

Production Design by
Grant Major

Art Direction by
Grace Mok

Costume Design by
Kirsty Cameron

Makeup Department
Orlando Bassi	....	wig maker
Barbie Cope	....	hair assistant
Barbie Cope	....	makeup assistant
Denise Kum	....	hair stylist supervisor
Denise Kum	....	makeup designer
Denise Kum	....	makeup supervisor
Jane O'Kane	....	hair assistant
Jane O'Kane	....	makeup assistant
Kenzie Sampson	....	makeup trainee (as Kenzie Samson)

Production Management
Reinhild Gräber	....	production supervisor: ApolloMedia
Rudolf Kurz	....	production supervisor: ApolloMedia
Janet McIver	....	production manager
Peter Moerenhout	....	unit manager
Anne Urban	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Anna Gundesen	....	assistant director: second unit
Neil James	....	second assistant director
Michelle Sowman	....	assistant director
Liz Tan	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Brian Campbell	....	set finisher
Graham Collins	....	carpenter
Kerry Dunn	....	scenic artist
Kate Highfield	....	art department manager
Maka Makatoa	....	storyboard artist
Patrick Matete	....	props
John Miles	....	construction manager
Lia Neilson	....	art department runner
Josh Patterson	....	greens supervisor
Aaron Reedy	....	property assistant
Michaela Sanders	....	art department runner
Richard Sheath	....	leading hand
Anthony Sumich	....	props stand-by
Megan Vertelle	....	set dresser
Megan Vertelle	....	sets buyer
Nick Walter	....	carpenter
Nick Weir	....	props buyer
Neil Williamson	....	carpenter
Roger Murray	....	propmaker (uncredited)

Sound Department
Chris Burt	....	adr supervisor
Stefan Colli	....	sound designer: atmosphere sound (as Stephan Colli)
Stefan Colli	....	sound supervisor (as Stephan Colli)
Corrin Ellingford	....	boom operator
Hubert Henle	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Stefan Korte	....	sound re-recording mixer
David Madigan	....	production sound mixer
David Madigan	....	sound
Sven Neumann	....	dialogue editor
Mirko Reinhard	....	special effects sound designer
Luigi Rensinghoff	....	dialogue editor
Wilmont Schulze	....	foley artist
Josef Steinbüchel	....	special effects sound designer
Markus Wimmer	....	special effects sound designer
André Zimmerman	....	sound designer: atmosphere sound

Special Effects by
Phil Addenbrook	....	physical effects (as Phil Addenbrooke)
Dean Clarke	....	physical effects
Oliver Gee	....	physical effects

Visual Effects by
Dan Blanchard	....	whale constructor
Christel Brunn	....	visual effects producer
Justin Buckingham	....	whale constructor
Manfred Büttner	....	visual effects producer
Barry Down	....	whale constructor
Steve Dyson	....	whale constructor
Erich Eder	....	digital compositor
Terry Green	....	whale constructor
Eric Heder	....	Inferno artist
John Lott	....	whale constructor
Steve Lowe	....	whale constructor
George Maihöfer	....	visual effects supervisor (as George Maihoefer)
Charlie McClellan	....	digital effects consultant (as Charles McClellan)
Dee McClelland	....	dailies colorist
Kevin Riley	....	cinematographer
Caterina Schiffers	....	digital compositor
Florian Schuck	....	digital retouching
Dean Taylor	....	whale constructor
Gaysorn Thavatt	....	visual effects (as Gatsorn Thavat)
Markus Wollschläger	....	digital retouching
Steve Young	....	whale constructor

Stunts
Mark Harris	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Armie Armstrong	....	underwater camera operator
Rachel Beard	....	clapper loader
Joshua Creek	....	additional grip (as Josh Creeks)
Kevin Donovan	....	key grip
Rhys Duncan	....	Steadicam operator
Kirsty Griffin	....	still photographer
Brenden Holster	....	assistant camera: second unit (as Brendan Holster)
Steven Joyce	....	generator operator
Brian Laird	....	best boy
Paul Matete	....	best boy
Henare Mato	....	lighting assistant
Grant McKinnon	....	gaffer
Leon Narbey	....	camera operator
Kevin Riley	....	camera operator: second unit
Jim Rowe	....	grip assistant
Paul Samuels	....	focus puller
Sigmund Spath	....	underwater photographer
Gaysorn Thavatt	....	focus puller: second unit (as Gaysorn Thavat)
Johnny Yarrel	....	video assistant
James Young	....	lighting assistant

Casting Department
Christina Asher	....	additional casting
Robyn Cammell	....	casting assistant (as Robin Cammell)
Riwia Fox	....	casting assistant
Riwia Fox	....	extras casting
Karen Sydney	....	additional casting
Stewart Turner	....	additional casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Paul Booth	....	wardrobe runner
Deirdre McKessar	....	assistant costume designer
Jenny Rushton	....	stand-by wardrobe (as Jenni Rushton)

Editorial Department
Julie Alp	....	assistant editor
Hans Joachim Bruß	....	color grader (as Hans-Joachim Bruß)
Clare Burlinson	....	video colorist
Renate Dahmen	....	negative cutter
Charles Knight	....	editorial advisor
Guido Krajewski	....	editing facility manager
Dee McClelland	....	rushes colorist
Robert Pinnow	....	post-production technical supervisor

Music Department
Simon Bowley	....	music mixer
Michael Edwards	....	orchestrator
Ricky Edwards	....	technical music supporter (as Rickey Edwards)
Chris Gough	....	music supervisor: Mana Music
Savage	....	music performers: "U Want Beef" (as the Deceptikonz)
Jacek Tuschewski	....	technical music supporter (as Jacek Tushewski)

Other crew
Phil Addenbrook	....	marine engineer (as Phil Addenbrooke)
Kath Allen	....	chaperone: Gisborne
Shane Armitage	....	safety officer
Thomas Becker	....	legal affairs: ApolloMedia
Tania Bettany	....	financial controller: South Pacific Pictures
Anni Browning	....	financing: Completion Bond Company
Sally Campbell	....	head of production: South Pacific Pictures
Alice Carstensen	....	production runner
Dean Clarke	....	marine engineer
Sian Clement	....	unit publicist
Helen Copplestone	....	assistant accountant
Birthe Danielsen	....	assistant: Mr. Felscher (as Birthe Danielson)
David Dant	....	shortfall insurance: Filmvision
Matt Emery	....	legal and business affairs manager
Thorsten Felscher	....	financial controller: ApolloMedia
Laura Fong	....	production coordinator
Oliver Gee	....	marine engineer
Brett Graham	....	sculptor: Porourangi
Moira Grant	....	production coordinator
Carol Haapu	....	consultant: iwi
Rewa Harker	....	assistant: John Barnett
Brian Harris	....	operator: remote head
Karen Hawkyard	....	animal wrangler
Willie Heatley	....	boat coordinator (as Willy Heatley)
Eric Heder	....	technical director
Maude Isaac	....	chaperone: Gisborne
Lyssa Judd	....	production runner
Camelija Karlic	....	production coordinator: Pandora
Jens Kriegel	....	assistant projectionist
Matt Lawford	....	shortfall insurance: Filmvision
Di Magee	....	production accountant
Samia Mainz	....	assistant: Mr. Hubner
Bruce McArthur	....	laboratory manager
Pat Merrifield	....	swimming coach
Guy Moana	....	maori carvings
Guy Moana	....	maori designs
James Mok	....	title designer
Markus Münz	....	assistant projectionist
Waio Parata-Haua	....	stand-in: Paikea
Podge	....	location manager
Johnny Poi	....	instructor: Taiaha
Ngamaru Raerino	....	kaumatua: South Pacific Pictures
Karin Reinink	....	assistant: John Barnett
Robert Sarkies	....	script editor
Nadine Schäfer	....	assistant: Mr. Schafer and Mr. Westerkamp
Joan Scheckel	....	script consultant
Krissy Stainton	....	production runner
Dominic Stones	....	unit assistant
Gavin Strawhan	....	script consultant
Hone Taumaunu	....	consultant: iwi
Hone Taumaunu	....	production advisor
Rainer Teusner	....	accountant: Pandora
Kathleen Thomas	....	continuity
Kath Thomson	....	continuity
Aaron Tomlinson	....	casual assistant
Martin Trendall	....	insurance: Mahony, Trendall, Jack
Mike Turner	....	manager: second unit
Karla Wallace	....	production secretary
Jörg Westerkamp	....	legal affairs: ApolloMedia (as Jorg Westerkamp)
Stephanie Wilkin	....	chaperone
Stephanie Wilkin	....	tutor

Thanks
Dave Ahu	....	special thanks
Nancy Greystone	....	special thanks
Liddy Holloway	....	special thanks
Derek Lardelli	....	special thanks (as Derek & Rose Lardelli)
Rose Lardelli	....	special thanks (as Derek & Rose Lardelli)
Andrew Lister	....	special thanks
Ian Mune	....	special thanks
Murray Newey	....	special thanks
Kath Te Kani	....	special thanks
Judith Trye	....	special thanks
Tim Worrall	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• ApolloMedia
• New Zealand Film Commission
• New Zealand Film Production Fund
• New Zealand On Air
• Pandora Filmproduktion
• South Pacific Pictures

Distributors

• BIM Distribuzione (2003) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International (Australia) (2003) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Cinema Mondo (2003) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Filmladen (2003) (Austria) (theatrical)
• First Distributors (2003) (Hong Kong) (theatrical)
• Herald Film Company (2003) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Icon Film Distribution (2003) (UK) (theatrical)
• Manga Films (2004) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Newmarket Films (2003) (USA) (theatrical)
• NonStop Entertainment (2003) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Pandora Filmproduktion (2003) (Germany) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2003) (Belgium) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2003) (Luxembourg) (theatrical)
• RCV Film Distribution (2003) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Telexcel (2003) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Telexcel/ImpactoCine (2006) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• With Cinema (2003) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Gativideo (2004) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (VHS)
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (2005) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (VHS) (rental)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (retail)

Special Effects

• Film Effects Co. Ltd. (marine engineers and physical effects)
• Glasshammer Visual Effects (whale construction)
• tvt. postproduction

Other Companies

• ARRI  cameras supplied by (as Arriflex)
• ARRI Digital  digital recording (as Arridigital)
• ARRI Digital  digital scanning (as Arridigital)
• ARRI Rental  cameras supplied by
• Atlab  film lab: New Zealand
• Bonifant and Saxby  catering
• Cut Company  editing (as Cut Company)
• Digital Post Ltd.  telecine transfers
• Film Finances  completion bond company
• Filmvision  shortfall insurance
• Granada Wild  whale footage
• Mahony, Trendall, Jack  insurance
• Mana Music  music supervision
• Ngati Konohi  special thanks
• Oktobor  telecine transfers
• Ruhr Sound Studios  sound mixing
• Te Wananga O Aotearoa  special thanks
• Torus  foley recording

Also Known As:

Te kaieke tohora (New Zealand: Maori title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief language and a momentary drug reference.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

New Zealand | Germany

Language:

English | Maori

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:G (British Columbia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-7 | Germany:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:PG | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Henderson Valley Studios, Hickory Avenue, Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand

Company:

ApolloMedia

Trivia:

Niki Caro said during the director's commentary that Pai's crying speech scene was done in one take, but using two cameras. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties there was a short break however, in which time Keisha Castle-Hughes's tutor and chaperon helped her to stay in character in with the same emotions.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the girl has been crying and the grandfather is comforting her, he wipes the tears from her face. In some shots, you can see where he wiped the tear, in other shots, you see a tear that has tricked down to her chin, and in some shots, she has a tear that hasn't traveled so far.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Paikea: In the old days, the land felt a great emptiness. It was waiting. Waiting to be filled up. Waiting for someone to love it. Waiting for a leader.
[child birth scene]
Paikea: And he came on the back of a whale. A man to lead a new people. Our ancestor, Paikea. But now we were waiting for the firstborn of the new generation, for the descendant of the whale rider. For the boy who would be chief.
Paikea: There was no gladness when I was born. My twin brother died, and took our mother with him.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Voice / Percussion Loop

An Extraordinary Achievement: Gripping, Engaging

I don't use the word "masterpiece" often when reviewing a film but for "Whale Rider," it's an inadequate accolade. This is one of the most moving, beautiful and powerful films I have seen in years.

Screenplay author and director Niki Caro faithfully translated Witi Ihimaera's novel of the same name, a poignant and sometimes sad but ultimately uplifting story of New Zealand Maoris seeking, with the leadership of a difficult, stubborn and often harsh elder to sustain their peoples' values and customs.

Australia and New Zealand are both encountering, in politics and in culture (and often the two are inextricably linked), their shared heritage of white oppression of native peoples. Much of this history is unknown to Americans and Europeans who view Australia through a bird's eye picture of the Sydney Opera House and New Zealand with even fewer associational icons.

Recently, "Rabbitproof Fence" painfully depicted the policy of Australia to force lighter skin aborigines into "schools" where they would be nurtured to become "semi-whites" and then married to those of similar skin tone. The object was to bleach the blackness out of Australia and the horrors of this incarnation of cultural and anthropological genocide are on full display in that film.

"Whale Rider" takes a different and, in the end, perhaps a more powerful approach. There are virtually no whites in the film and only children's t-shirts and some music blasting from a boombox suggests the encroaching force of the controlling majority.

The cast is unknown to Americans and their names can be found on the IMDb homepage for the film. The lead actress, however, must be named. In the role of "Pai," a young girl whose mother dies at her birth along with her twin brother, is the extraordinary Keisha Castle-Hughes. She imbues every scene with a commanding and inviting vitality. Hers is an Academy Award (and any other major award) performance.

Pai's father left New Zealand for Europe, there to create and sell Maori crafts. She lives with her grandmother and grandfather, the latter some sort of unelected chieftain of the oceanside community. Bitter that no male heir will succeed him and alternately cruel and loving to his reluctantly acknowledged granddaughter, Koro starts a school to supplement the young boys' secular education with inculcation of the ways of the Maori. Pai wishes to join as an equal and is firmly, indeed harshly rebuffed at every turn.

If the Maori language has the phrase "You go, girl!," then it be directed towards the indefatigable but not arrogant Pai. It would have been easy to make her the kind of thoughtless rebel that nature often programs teenagers to be. The depth of her character resides in her simultaneous quest for equality and her understanding of her grandfather's unyielding attachment to patriarchal values. Pai's close relationship with her grandmother, a woman living a life universally recognizable to Americans, provides warmth and support and do some of her other relationships.

The story unfolds seamlessly with Maori music and rituals bridging the spoken dialogue (mostly in English, some in Maori with subtitles).

Partly a straight tale, partly a gripping mystical fable, "Whale Rider" never becomes saccharine.

The music and Maori songs complement but do not compete with the dialogue, a welcome change from many movies today. The land and the ocean are rawly gorgeous.

As in Australia, relations today between New Zealand's indigenous people and the descendants of their vanquishers are sometimes tense. There are open wounds from continuing political collisions over land and culture. The Maoris are not a monolith and internal dissension is active. Serious attempts to sustain Maori values and culture in the face of assimilative pressures meet with varied degrees of success (in Koro's Maori school the kids wear t-shirts with rock themes and one has a shirt advertising an upstate New York resort area if I saw correctly). New Zealand's most internationally renowned Maori is the opera diva Kiri te Kanawa who is now dedicated to Maori cultural restoration projects. "Whale Rider" can only give a boost to such efforts which, as this film shows, makes not only New Zealand but the world richer.

This is a film I will acquire on DVD as soon as it is available.

10/10.