Once Were Warriors

This film is terrific, touching greatness at times, even if not always able to remain on that level? But how many can? This is a great film.
Set in a disfunctional Maori household where the characters have entered the bourgeois world, spat out as violent drunks or abused forebears, it is largely a character piece. The male lead i monstrous, perhaps a little too much so, but is certainly humanised and shows a great range of emotions. The mother, and the daughter, are also well shown in not being (always) over-perfected, they aren't just angels impoed upon (this may be a charge against Grace, the girl). The cycles of poverty are terrifically shown; we see how generations of povery, patriarchal violence, social and ancestral conditions repeat themselves. Hate the crime, not the criminal.
The rendering of an atmosphere, of a culture, is superb. Wonderful singing, awful misogyny. The 'answer' of a return to the Maori is perhaps over egged, at the end which is a couple of scenes too long; there is at the same time truth there, when the correct elements are incorporated.
A word also to the cinematography, perhaps this film's greatest strength. The reds, the colours, the shadings and crevices of the characters faces are captured and delved into beautiful. It makes the film carry weight, giving visceral nausea to either the disgusting violence or grandeur to the hopeless. A film that seems to be under the radar, but is more than worth taking time to discover. Two thumbs up.