I think "Whale Rider" (2002) is terrific as a feel-good film, but to me, it's a good movie that misses being a great one. It simplifies complex issues, losing emotional depth in the process. Still, the sheer cinematic beauty of the film makes up for a lot, as does the charismatic performance of child actress Keisha Castle-Hughes. This seems to me to be one of the few movies that appeal to most viewers in any age bracket.
The story in "Whale Rider" centers around a Maori tribe living in present-day New Zealand. They speak English, wear ordinary mass-produced clothing, and have electricity and telephones. Yet they try to keep some of their cultural identity. The Maori language is still used in ceremonies, and children are taught traditional tribal stories, particularly the one about their original ancestor having arrived on the back of a whale.
The central character is a 12-year-old Maori girl called Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), who lives with her grandparents. Her old-fashioned grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) is the leader of the tribe, and by tradition he should be succeeded by his eldest son, who is Pai's father.
As the tale unfolds, we can see that the young girl Pai is the best candidate to lead the tribe through a difficult time of transition, and she gets some support from her uncle and her grandmother (Vicky Haughton). But Koro, though he loves his granddaughter, is steadfastly committed to preserving the old ways, and he sees no alternative to grooming a male to succeed him. Thus, an aging chieftain, his capable young granddaughter, and a tribe of people are in crisis.
I thought that the use of Maori actors and location shooting gives a feeling of authenticity to the film. I was particularly impressed with Rawiri Paratene in the role of the young girl’s grandfather. In spite of projecting a seemingly unfeeling inflexibility, he managed to make it credible that his granddaughter would still love him deeply. The underlying tenderness of the grandfather-granddaughter relationship gave the movie a pathos it would not otherwise have had.
To my mind, "Whale Rider" is sometimes heavy-handed and is a film more mythic than realistic or personal. I saw this movie as more of a fablistic tale of a destiny fulfilled rather than a true coming-of-age story. This would have been a more resonant experience for me if there had been greater emphasis on Pai psychologically unraveling her true nature as defined by her own thoughts and beliefs rather than those of her community. Although the movie is a little too tidy for its own good, it nonetheless for the most part avoids clichés and handles things in unexpected ways.
The DVD comes with a number of bonus materials, and I have listed them on a separate page.
