272. Waru; movie review

WARU
Cert TBA
88 mins
BBFC advice: TBA

Every time a friend or acquaintance goes to New Zealand they return extolling it as a paradise and often compare it to Britain of a bygone age.
I wonder if they have encountered any Maori people other than those directly employed by the tourist trade.
Films about Maoris seem to offer a different window on New Zealand - one represented by poverty, violence and, to an extent, hopelessness.
Waru is made up of eight to ten-minute short films, each written by female Maori film-makers and centred on the death of an unseen young child.
It concentrates on eight women who are related to the child to greater or lesser extents and their very different reactions to the tragedy.
The vignettes, each filmed in one take, show how - even as the village prepares for the funeral - there are normalities of life which continue.
For example, the strong 'aunty' in charge of catering still has time to disapprove of her son's girlfriend and the child's teacher carries on her illicit affair.
Family wrangles still simmer and the poverty in which the villagers are submerged is ever present.
But there is humour - banter bounces around the canteen as if they are preparing for a summer barbecue.
Traditions are still very much at the forefront of a community which is still struggle with the transitions between the past and the present.
And then the reality dawns that there are disproportionate violent deaths of children in the Maori community and that nowhere near enough is done to stop them.
The skill of Waru is in what is left unsaid. It might appear that its characters are selfish and uncaring but it becomes clear that they are trying, in their own ways to get over the horror of a young boy being killed.
But it does pose significant questions about whether the Maoris are part of New Zealand or apart from it.
This is a question which is left hanging because it is far from resolved.

Reasons to watch: Gives a different slant on life in idyllic New Zealand
Reasons to avoid: The presentation presumes knowledge

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Director quote - Briar Grace Smith: "The lead character of every vignette had to be a Maori woman, all the films had to be shot in one take and the stories were all centred around the death of a child through domestic violence."

The big question - Is life for Maori communities as bleak as portrayed in Waru?

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