'Whale Rider' Film Review

The 2002 film Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, is an extraordinary drama full of symbolism and culture. The movie is about a Maori community in New Zealand during a time of remorse and strife. We follow the story of Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes) who was tragically born a girl instead of a boy. The movie begins with the birth scene of Paikea and her twin brother. Sadly her brother died along with her mother during the child birth. Quickly the audience learns she is not wanted by her grandfather, Koro (Rawiri Paratene). Stricken with grief, Paikea's father, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis), leaves his daughter in the hands of her grandparents. Whale Rider is a tale not only about Maori culture but reveals the complicated dynamics between family members.  

      

Koro is the elder chief of the community and is desperate to find a new leader. As per tradition, only a first-born son can become a leader. Since Paikea's brother passed away and her father decided to not be apart of the community, Koro is determined to find a replacement. This Maori community is stubborn in maintaining the patriarchal society they are used to, particularly Koro. Despite this, Paikea (now about 10 years old) wants to be a part of her community in more ways than staying at home and cleaning. Throughout the movie, Paikea challenges her grandfather's traditions and opinions. This is illustrated when Koro decided to assemble all of the first-born sons in the community. His goal was to find the next leader by teaching and testing the young boys for courage, strength, and intelligence. At first, Paikea insists on being part of the class but Koro's anger takes charge. Instead, Paikea spends her time secretly watching and practicing the activities with her uncle. 
For the final test, Koro is looking for the spirit within the boys. By doing so, he throws his necklace of a whale tooth into the ocean. The next leader is the one who can retrieve the necklace. Sadly, non of the boys were able to recover the leader's necklace from the ocean. Secretly with her uncle, Paikea swims down and retrieves the necklace along with a lobster for dinner. Before Koro discovers this, he is devastated and prays to the ancient ones to help his community. Paikea recognizes her grandfather's pain and chants to the ancient ones as well. 
Then one day, multiple whales are found stranded on the beach. Immediately the community comes together to help the whales but their efforts go unnoticed. Koro believes it was Paikea's fault not only for the whale's beaching but for turmoil in the community. Determined, Paikea climbs on top of the whale, magically giving it the strength it needs and they ride off into the ocean together. While watching his granddaughter ride away on top of the whale, Koro is enlightened about his ignorance and finds his prayers have been met. 

Whale Rider is a rich educational experience full of culture and meaning. If I were to rate this movie out of five stars, I would give it four and a half. I greatly appreciated how the movie captured family dynamics while in a time of suffering. I thought the characters were well developed and the aims of the story were important to understand. I did not mention this in my summary of the movie but a theme throughout the movie that I thought was important, was understanding the significance of a strong community. Strength was highlighted in multiple aspects of the film. For example, when the boys were being taught how to perform a traditional Maori fighting dance-intimidation and physical strength are encouraged. Another time, Koro informed Paikea of the importance of a strong community through the metaphor of a rope. Most ropes are made of multiple individual ropes which come together to form a greater one. The breaking of the rope is a symbol for the community breaking. This symbol was evident when everyone came together to try and get the whales back into the ocean. Before Paikea was able to help, the community tried wrapping a rope around the tale of a bigger whale, sadly the rope broke, leaving anguish and turmoil amongst everyone. 

Whale Rider highlights the importance of maintaining strong relationships among communities. Although, for this to be done, people must be willing to accept new ways of living. Koro is the epitome of this lesson. His stubbornness came back to bite him in more than one way and when he was able to accept his granddaughter as the next leader, was able to be happier. It is important to have a balance between practicing tradition and understanding new possibilities. Remaining focused in the past does not help a community grow.