Midweek Mention... Once Were Warriors

Once Were Warriors

Sidey:

Once we were warriors.

Pete: It's, it's, it's not called that.

Sidey: Yeah. honestly they're so Both these films I couldn't get the names of them right all week.

Dan: weird. Once, no, it's not that film about people that are just worrying themselves all the time, is it?

Yeah, I was

Sidey: themselves all the time.

Yeah. I was worried because Pete nominated and those worries were well

Dan: well founded.

This is a warrior. This is a fighting man. Have

Reegs: Had anyone seen this before?

I yeah.

Cris: have? Really?

Dan: Yeah.

Reegs: Yeah, I had as well.

Cris: Oh,

you have as

Reegs: Yeah.

Because this is Temuera Morrison, isn't it? And Boba Fett. Boba Fett, yeah.

Dan: It, it's,

Pete: And Django Fett.

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: one of the most, he's famous films to come outta New Zealand. I think any New Zealander has seen this film or knows somebody who has seen this film.

Reegs: Yeah.

Okay. And

Pete: well, my, my reasoning for nominating it was I actually thought of the film before I came up with my theme for this week. I remember a long time ago, some people who I think were maybe friends of mine at the time talking about

Sidey: this... Calling, calling bullshit on it already, this story?

Pete: Yeah, yeah, true. Doesn't stack up. No, saying that this was a really good film and I thought, Yeah, it's one that I'm going to get around to watching at some point. And I never hadn't for, yeah, 20 years at least.

Dan: not like you. No? No.

Pete: And so eventually, yeah, I thought I'd nominate it and watch it. And yeah, we could review it when it starts off.

And I know Riggs is a big fan of an opening

Reegs: And it's a banging opening

Pete: a brilliant opening scenes. It starts off with like some picturesque landscape sort of

Sidey: it did me.

Dan: Mountains and

Sidey: and a lake. Yeah. Mountains and

Pete: the lake. And I was thinking like, Oh, right. Okay. This is because I knew nothing about this other than it was about Maori culture.

Obviously in New Zealand. And yeah, so it starts off with that glistening like deep blue waters and rolling green hills and so on and then the camera pans back and it's a billboard and you've basically got some sort of like Mad Max type scene going on which is the real. So this is like Auckland suburbs somewhere.

Reegs: It's a sort of industrial wasteland almost

Sidey: was like a A chimney almost, like, with smog coming out of it next to the billboard,

Reegs: and some shady types in the street. And then we're all, we're introduced, like, almost kind of Grindhouse style to the two leads Rena Owen as,

Pete: Yeah.

Reegs: And Temuera,

Dan: That's right, because

Reegs: Temuera?

Dan: that's right. 'cause the credits kind of, spring up in large letters next to the actors. You don't really see that much, do you? But it worked here.

It was cool.

Reegs: He was a big star in New Zealand at the time, but I still, this was still a pretty bold move for him to make this movie, as I guess we'll come to see, because,

Sidey: Content is full on.

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: Yeah. It'd put on a bit of weight you had to beef up for this role.

Reegs: We get a few shots, really, of the whole family that's going to be at the centre of this drama because we actually see Nick who's the eldest son, working out in like an improvised gym. Yeah.

Sidey: they're doing

Reegs: Nick? I think

Pete: it is.

It is. Yeah.

Sidey: They're doing some kind of lift it's the car engine, isn't it? That's getting pulled up and down and

Dan: right. Yeah, it's on the street. It's like one of those chicken wire fences, kind of muscle beach look. And they're looking good. They're looking strong. They're pumping the iron.

Mum is wandering along and she's got a shopping trolley from the, the supermarket, you know? And I think it's just a little sign of. You know, the poverty in and around and just those kind of scenes right from the beginning, you, you start to realize the kind of environment that is very different from that first scene that you see right at the beginning with the, the, the

Sidey: There's some banging tune. There's some guys, I think they're just rhyming on the street. Yeah. But obviously it's the soundtrack is playing. It's a fucking tune and this is where we're introduced to Jake because there's kind of like a gang who are trying to intimidate people walking around and they kind of step up to him and he doesn't flinch at all and they.

Clock him and stare at him a bit and then walk on. I mean,

Reegs: He was a good looking fella though, weren't he?

I mean, straight away you're struck by, like, cause he's huge in this. He's obviously bulked

Sidey: well, he's

Reegs: up

Sidey: yes, he's big but he's like he makes a comment about the first guy, doesn't he?

Reegs: yeah, he's a great, look, yeah.

Sidey: And so they're they don't wanna step to him and then he goes home and he's got something wrapped in some newspaper and he

they

open it up and it's a load of seafood that he's got from somewhere, not necessarily the shop.

And so you get the feeling that this is a real treat for them, they haven't got a lot. The family are really fucking excited by

Reegs: at first it's like a real happy scene, isn't it?

Everybody comes in,

Sidey: Apart from the eldest son, who comes in and out of the gaff, he's scoped, so he's

Reegs: moody, but could

Pete: there, you can see there's friction there

Sidey: he's...

Reegs: He's, but, and there's also a kind of,

what seems like at first incredible sexual attraction for

Sidey: my god.

For

Reegs: who's like a fi, you know, got five kids together 'cause they're kissing, but then it just goes on and

Sidey: kissing scene, I was like, they're She's eating the face off him. Yeah. Yeah. And I was thinking the kids are only across the way

Reegs: Cause it, but it does start that way. You're

Sidey: Yeah. Yeah. It's great.

Reegs: And then you're like, whoa,

Dan: Passion is strong.

Sidey: it's like happy families but hang on, chill out a minute. There's, you know, but whatever. They live in this tiny, relatively small house. There's five kids as

Pete: It's, basically my house. Yeah. And I can, and I can say that, yeah, the, the, the sexual attraction is unrealistic. Yeah.

Sidey: Yeah. But she's really like chewing his face off and they, they're about to do it on the breakfast bar, and he, and then says, listen, like today I got fucking laid off.

Don't worry. I signed up for the doll and it's only $17 different. Yeah. She's like, well fucking hell,

Dan: Yeah, she loses her shit a little bit because she's not happy. She suddenly lost the urge to, to take it any further. And you, you see that first sign then of the temper of

Reegs: Jake.

Dan: Jake, he's yeah, he, he kind of just snaps at her

Sidey: He says, you always fucking ruin everything. He turns it back on her and says, you fucking ruin everything.

Dan: yeah, like it was a day to celebrate, but he, he takes that excuse to go down the pub.

Reegs: He does. And down at the pub, there's a sort of muscular guy that, at the bar that we're introduced to straight away, beating the shit out of

three

Cris: at the bar that we're introduced to straight away, beating the shit out of three guys. You know when he, you know what's going to happen as soon as you see him, tattoo on his face,

Sidey: There was a lot of that though.

Angry,

Cris: angry man, and he,

Pete: he just sets about three fellas who just happen to walk into the room. He just glasses one of them and then like pummels the other two like to oblivion for seemingly no reason for just walking into the wrong but I mean, I immediately thought that they were white guys

that he beat

Sidey: yeah, the guy, the guy that steps to him and says, what's your problem?

That gets filled in. He's he he seemed like a white guy and then but Jake's already clocked him and said, oh, he's a big but you know,

Pete: And says, and, and it notices that he must have been inside because of the way he like swings and everything, and the tatts. So, but

Reegs: Later there's going to be a, he's getting pissed up with his mates at the bar.

I can't remember what his mates names are. It's Cliff Curtis that was in a movie that we

Pete: Well, that's, that's uncalled bully.

And we'll meet him again

Reegs: Yeah. Anybody with a name called Bully's bound to be a nice guy. I would have thought. And another one who seems a lot more reasonable and they get an all beard up and there's a friend of their, of Beth's, I think is a local singer there.

And she's trying to sing a song and the muscular guy decides he's had enough of the song, I'm going to put the jukebox on. But

Dan: everybody else, and you're in these big kind of open bars, where they're all kind of, loads of people all divided

Sidey: what we should say is that no one's batted an eyelid really at the first fight. They're just like, oh it's another fight.

Dan: Nobody's batted an eyelid at the fight there and nobody bats an eyelid when he Changes the music to a really loud jukebox song taking over this beautiful singing she's doing

Pete: it's not that beautiful

Sidey: doing. It's not that it was decent enough and they were into it.

Reegs: They were into it.

Sidey: she's obviously a friend.

Reegs: Enjoy singing. Is is like a recurring motif in

Pete: absolutely

Dan: so Jake and everybody knows, fucking hell, this guy's just filled in three people over here, like, he's a nutter, so, but Jake goes up and

Reegs: he says to him, you've been lifting weights, all weights, no speed ball. And then he decks him in about,

Sidey: second. He hits him with, yeah, like a volley of punches within about a nanosecond.

I

Pete: say for, for assuming low budget, I didn't actually look into the budget. I'm assuming this is a fairly low budget film and it's what, 94?

Cris: Yes, 1994.

Pete: and and not having like the, you know, like the production, everything that. You know, let's say like Hollywood would have and so on. I thought the fighting scenes, especially like the, you know, like the punching and the choreography of a lot of those was fairly

Reegs: A lot of that is down to really good editing and stuff like that because it, it's done in like half a second. And so yeah, it's a great, it's a great scene because it's entirely believable that he just completely takes this guy out and then goes back, I think goes back to go back, go on, start again. He gets the whole crowd going, kills

Sidey: to guy and his heart rate hasn't changed at all. It's like the same with this guy, he just pummels this guy into oblivion.

Pete: that would suggest that he's not a guy who loses control, but he is definitely a guy who loses control

Reegs: And then after that,

Pete: not long

Reegs: well after that, I was reminded of, of you Dan, like, he brings everybody back to the Mancave

Dan: this was the the scene, wasn't it? So he's just finished pummeling the guy. He nods over to the girl, gives her the wave, and she starts singing again. He feels on top of the world.

What

Sidey: What we've missed is that the middle son has been lifted. He's been arrested

because he's knocking about with a bad crowd and someone's nicked a car and he's been kind of caught up in it.

Although he didn't do it, but he's got other he's already going to court the next day. So his mom stayed home and promised him. that they will be at court with him tomorrow. Even though they're fucking annoyed at him for doing this again. The mother has said, we don't worry. We'll definitely, and he's keep saying, you promise you'll be there.

And she's, yes, I promise.

Dan: she's, yes,

Reegs: So he's got five kids, and he's court date tomorrow, and he's bringing everybody back for a

Dan: date tomorrow, and he's bringing everybody back for a party. He decides to bring everyone back, and this scene, I think, coming up is fantastic, because they they come through the house and you get the scene of the kids in bed and the the bottles just jingling along of all the beer bottles and the shouts outside and everything and the

Reegs: what's most harrowing is the kids know what's

Dan: yeah you can that's what i'm saying you can see it on their faces you you know they're they're just staring up at the walls at the ceiling they they know a party's coming it's not the first time

Reegs: think they know how these

Dan: I don't know whether you ever had parties at your house when you were kids

Sidey: I can remember, you know, my dad being pissed and and a couple of people coming back and but nothing obviously like this but you could kind of hear it upstairs but Grace is kind of like the de facto parent. She looks after the younger kids and they're sharing because they're obviously in a smaller house.

She's sharing a room with Boogie. And he's like, oh, here we go and she's like, no, it's great when they sing because they start singing. They're singing a song. I love song and it's all kind of going

Reegs: It's nice, actually,

Sidey: It's they they do have a connection. They've obviously in in years gone by. Yeah, in years gone by, they've obviously been happy together and they still have these moments but you know, there's a dark side to it and he's like, well, she says, well, they're real.

They show their real feelings when they're drunk. And he's like, yeah, but obviously there's a tipping point when it goes too

Dan: Well, it's, eggs is the tipping point because Bully comes in and asks for her to make some

Sidey: They've already eaten everything and has, haven't they?

Dan: Just before this she's just had an heart to heart with her son and talked about the times that they played together and, and they chatted and didn't they get on so well? Money, and he's like, You know, he's just out there. He doesn't want anything to do with it. He

Reegs: Is this he calls her a drunk?

Dan: You're drunk.

You're, you're, you're out of control. And she turns for money. And she says, no, no, no, I've got some money. And

Reegs: She slaps him because she's, caught in

Dan: She apologized. She turns around to get some money from the shelf. And he's gone. Next thing, like almost seconds after bullies come in and said, make us

Pete: demanded some more

food. Yeah.

Dan: And she's like,

Sidey: You want some eggs?

Dan: fuck off.

Like, yeah. Jake's come in and heard this and goes, what's the problem? Woman makes some eggs, you know?

Cris: As you do,

Dan: as you do and, and as we learn in this culture, even the girls will, will say, you know, what do they say? Keep your lips, lips shut, and your legs open. You know that that's, it is grim as fuck.

But she's so upset, obviously, with just this encounter with a, a son just there because she's so much. You know, more a mother than she shows a lot of the time because of Jake's influence, then she's, you know, Reacts and fucking

hell,

Sidey: She throws the eggs on the floor smashes them all, and Jake fucking fills her in.

Reegs: Well, he just beats her savagely. I mean, he punches her several times square in the face, hits her when she's on the I mean, it's really,

Dan: square in the party, because everybody piles out.

you

Cris: you gotta see that they, even the guests, the guests of the party, they weren't really surprised. They just kind of get out of the way and

Sidey: Well they know what he's

Reegs: it's not the first time, right? I

Dan: They're not getting in the way of that.

Sidey: I mean. And you

Cris: know, but that's all I mean. It just feels like, oh yeah, we've seen this before. We know we'll leave him

Pete: alone.

I think they're intimidated. He's obviously the

Sidey: He's going to battle anyone. The family

Pete: of the entire,

Dan: Tyson. You know, he's just an angry Mike

Sidey: If any one of them gets in his way, they're getting it as well. So they just leave and then you see the kids cowering upstairs fucking crying. It's

Reegs: it's awful.

It's horrendous. And then the aftermath is horrendous, because the camera unflinchingly shows you the blood all over the, the house. Grace, like you said, the de facto parent has to get up and start, like,

Pete: Cleaning up her mother's blood,

Dan: Grace is a 13 year old girl who's Yeah. Holding the, the family together and surprisingly normal throughout all this, she's got this one friend

Sidey: they resent him but at the moment, it's just

Reegs: Is that his name? Toot? The

Pete: is Grace's friend who lives in a car, yeah.

Reegs: a

Sidey: It's it's kind of hanging together by a thread at this point. The the family and but she's still She still loves him.

You know, it's obvious that she's stuck in this cycle and she can't get out of it. And they're like I say, you've gotta they've gotta clear up all this stuff or the house is upside down. There's blood everywhere. Her face is in absolute state and and she's in the bathroom just trying to put a cold flannel on it.

She can't even do that and they're Knocks on the door is like we gotta go, you know, I've got my court thing and she's like, oh your sister It's better if your sister takes you and you're just like

Pete: than

Reegs: court case. It's Boogie, yeah,

Sidey: but yeah, and you're just like, oh my god, it's fucking terrible

Dan: But he shot the my god.

is

upon them, and dad is beating the shit out of mum. Dad ain't going nowhere because he's pissed, he's probably still

Sidey: He doesn't see a problem. He's just

Dan: yeah. Well, once it comes to find out that actually the, the court case went against him, he's going to be taken into, into welfare and that

Sidey: because the the detail of that is that They've been to the house in the morning before the court case, the social worker has been to the house and said, fuck me, like, we can't leave the kid there.

Pete: Yeah. But you don't see it. But assuming, seeing the mum and the aftermath of, of what's

Sidey: know,

Pete: the, the, the, you know, the state that they're living in and everything and has, has made a judgment that whilst he's on a, on a bad path and he's, he's done wrong and so on, that he'd be better off being moved into like the care system.

Sidey: Yeah. And that guy, he's class. Where we see him as the only positive real male role model in the film. Yeah.

Reegs: And meanwhile, Nick, the eldest son, is also seeking a surrogate family this time. He's doing it with a local gang called the Toa Otoroa, yeah. Toa Otoroa, maybe?

Yeah,

Sidey: the initiation looks sound.

Reegs: sound.

Pete: I know.

Dan: Wow. Okay.

Cris: to do that.

Dan: he gets in the, he gets in the car with guys who are tattooed head to toe like.

Sidey: Yeah, like, as in, right across the face, the

Dan: face. the works, all pattern tattoos Maui kind of tribal stuff. They speed past a cop car with like a

Sidey: but the fucking police didn't do anything about it.

Dan: a skull on front.

I mean, there's three of 'em in the back. There's three of 'em in the front. They're looking fucking badass as fuck, and they're intimidating him on the way down. And one guy's just kind of. calling him a girl and the whole way and he goes, I just want to get my patch

Sidey: you're pretty boy.

And all

Dan: and to earn these tattoos

Pete: And the right to join the gang, yeah.

Dan: there's certain initiations

and probably tasks that you have to do.

Sidey: Yeah. And what we're shown on screen is that he's effectively circled by about eight

Pete: Yeah, it's a ritual

Sidey: kicked the fucking

Dan: And they're not taking it easy. I mean, yeah, they're really.

Sidey: And he, he takes it and once the beating is over, they say, welcome to your new

Cris: And they hug it out Yeah They hug it out, it's like, oh yeah, come here,

Sidey: part of the

Dan: So, so that's him then. He, he's, he's suddenly next time we see him, he's

Sidey: he's on one side

Dan: on one side of the face big time. And

Pete: yeah, that was an interesting scene. 'cause obviously it's the dads, it's in the bar. Yeah. The, you know, where, where Jake drinks and and Nick's there with some girls and, but Jake's obviously recognized it's his son, but hasn't seen him, hasn't seen his face.

So he's. Now taking the, like, taking the piss out of him, like, saying, Oh, let me buy the girls a drink, let me get some milkshakes for the girls and everything. As he's insinuating his own son's a girl. And then his son turns around to reveal this kind of, like, half facial tattoo sort of thing. And Jake barely bats an eyelid.

It's not like something where he's... I mean, I know

Dan: just takes the piss again, doesn't he? He just goes oh, I don't like the look of you now. I won't

Sidey: He's so blase about it.

At first I thought, oh, he doesn't recognise him. Yeah.

Pete: Yeah, no, he obviously recognized him from the get go, but I mean, I know culturally that's not as gonna be as like jarring as it would be say over here or one of our kids got something like that done, but still it's it's a pretty pretty big commitment.

Reegs: also, Jake has a lot of issues as we'll come to find out over the movie with his Maori identity.

He, you know, it comes out not long after this scene. I think he is, you know, he's descended from slaves and you know, and, and Beth was descended from sort of tribal people. Elders,

Pete: if

Reegs: you like, so had a more sort of privileged position. So he's always been in

Sidey: effectively what happens now, isn't it, because they go to visit. Though, she,

Reegs: they have a day trip, don't they, to go and see.

He

Sidey: wins the money at the horses, doesn't he? And throws the money down table and says, fine, let's go. You know, sort it out. You do it. And she's, oh, she's made up, you know, it's all happy families again at this point.

And

Reegs: a horrible bit of foreshadowing in this moment, right? When they, they're talking about the they go on the day trip, he's rented a car, they go out and they see the huts and where the graves are and she, Grace says, I'd love to go and see them and Beth says, not before me you

Pete: not before me

Reegs: yeah, horrible bit of foreshadowing for us.

Pete: is brutal. I mean, and in between you're getting little, you know, a few more, I think Grace has had another sort of interaction with her friend who lives in the car, they've got, she keeps a diary that she.

Pretty much walks around with and it's got stories in it. Predominantly right, right at the beginning. She's reading one of her stories in the

Sidey: the kids

Pete: to, to her siblings and so on. But like you say, she's almost like the glue that's like keeping the family together, playing this like dual role of like, she's, she's a daughter.

She's almost like, like the, the most respond that the L most responsible eldest person in the house. at the age of 13 because, you know, the other brothers are on a totally different path already. The parents are totally dysfunctional

Reegs: And there's two younger kids

Pete: And there's the other kids that need looking after and looking out for because she's the one that goes with Boogie to his hearing and so on.

But,

Sidey: So they go to visit and it's not long before it all fucking descends into chaos and

Pete: yeah, this scene, I mean, there's worse scenes than that. But, you know, when he just stops off and he wants to show his friends his car and then he's

Reegs: Just one beer.

Pete: one beer, and they've got to wait in the car. And then... You know, she goes, I mean, we,

Dan: we've all

Reegs: promised grace.

Pete: on, we've, I, I've definitely been places where, where the missus has walked in, not my missus, but like the missus of someone has walked in and it's like, what the fuck, you said just one and everything, I've definitely, I've seen that before, but this is like,

Sidey: It's the next

Pete: Yeah, this is next level because

Sidey: you've seen what they've seen previous where

Pete: her marching orders, like, yet again, and then at this point it's like, Oh, you know, I've given you all my money, why don't you get a taxi?

Like, he won't give her the keys. Yeah, you know, and this is like, and, and they're gonna, yeah, they promised Grace they're gonna visit, like, their own son, but he's such a piece of shit that, you know, he's now just bedding in for the

Sidey: then we get the phone call to him saying, sorry, oh, we couldn't do it.

And you're like, oh,

but

Pete: if you notice almost like every conversation that, that Jake's having with his friends, it's, it's, you come into the conversations and they're all about fighting.

They're all about, Oh yeah, and then this guy steps up to me and I called him this and I said this and then I did this and everything. And it's all this just like complete alpha, like macho bollocks that they're just kind of perpetuating whilst they're getting steaming every day.

Dan: goes into the bar at one point, doesn't he, and there's some girls with his mates and he goes, If I wanted to drink with women, I'd

Sidey: Go to the lounge bar.

Dan: gone to the lounge bar.

So they have to,

Sidey: scum. But well, the counterpoint to this is we do see the social worker and he's really tapping into the actual Maori tradition.

And I think what's the lad's name? He's smashing the window, isn't he? With the I shouldn't really know the name of the thing, but it's an important

Pete: like a staff.

Sidey: Yeah, and whilst he berates him and tells him off for doing it, then he gets it and starts twirling it around.

Reegs: Yeah. You see, he's a badass. Right. He just whis

Sidey: he's a dude.

He's not to be fucked with, even though he's fairly small in stature, but he knows what he's doing.

Pete: gets some scenes of it, of him, like as part of a group of obviously like I'm assuming

Sidey: he tells him the importance of that thing. He

Pete: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sidey: this is what it's for. for this is what it's used for this and you're going to learn all this stuff and then you know it'll be in you and you won't have to do any of that stuff because you know and so he's you're kind of getting a kind of good vibe because he's teaching

Reegs: teach this to them, the

Sidey: Then they're doing the hacker and and he's and I was watching again. I don't like it in the rugby particularly but when they were doing it here, it's these lads and he's like, no, no, it's not good enough. You're trying to channel your ancestors into your body. And he's really good.

Pete: a massive part of the, I mean, they do it at like school assemblies and everything like that. It's a huge part, and each one's like different and tells a different story and so on. And it's like, you know, on the face of it, it's like a war, it is like a, you know, a call to war and everything.

But it's, it's indoctrinated into like modern, like, you know, New Zealand culture. So, it's a very important thing. All the moves are very, like,

You know, the channeling of the monsters that they're talking about and so on. So it's

Sidey: you're kind

of,

Pete: instilling discipline.

Sidey: of feeling good about

Pete: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's on a better path. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we go back to the house.

Reegs: Yeah, we have more parties, I think, more singing and more parties. It's quite often the movie stops to let Jake sing for a little while. And then we have a party back at their house where Uncle Bully gets designs on Grace. You see it. He's asked her a few times throughout the movie, Give your Uncle Bully a kiss.

That sort of thing. And she comes down, I think, to get something whilst with some water, a glass of water, and he goes up to her and, you know, I could see you turning me on with your, it's, it's horrible. And yeah, he does the inevitable. He rapes her. It's a pretty

Pete: I mean, he said, what he actually says is like, your parents would be. Angry with you for turning me on like

Reegs: that.

That's right. Yeah. You

Pete: that. So, like, instilling that control that, you know, this is something that you've brought on yourself, but that your parents can't know about because you're in the wrong here.

So,

Sidey: kind of placed above looking at her while it's happening, it's fucking grim.

Pete: At first, I hadn't, because obviously she shared a room with Boogie who was who's now, you know, living elsewhere. And at first I was thinking like please god don't let this be in the same room as the other two kids and so which obviously it's not because they've got different rooms but yeah it's a pretty fucking horrendous scene as is the the morning after as well.

Reegs: Grace doesn't really know who to turn to as she finds herself with toot.

And he unfortunately they've been building like a really

sort of

burgeoning friendship she's been, he's been her only confident and he chooses this moment to try and turn their relationship romantic. And it's obviously terrible, terrible timing. And I think that is

Pete: and I think they just,

Reegs: straw that broke a camel's

Pete: I took it like he's obviously, he looks like a druggie, but I think like he's, he's smoking some weeded and, and I don't think she had until then. 'cause then it's like, seems of them giggling and so on.

Cris: She also had the morning episode with her mum where she

Sidey: Yeah,

Cris: massive fight when she's trying to clean the bedsheets. And the

mum walks into the bathroom, she's trying to wash herself, then trying to wash the bedsheets and she's like, Oh, you got your first period and she's like, Get away, blah blah blah.

And it's just like, you know what's happening, but obviously the mum... And then you can see her kind of... When Grace is out later on in the scene, you can see her touching the bedsheets and kind of feeling that there's something wrong, in a way,

Dan: Yeah, she has some kind of

Pete: Yeah.

But she, yeah, so she, then she has that scene with Toot and he's, you know, he's tried it on with her and, and obviously that's pretty poor timing on, on his part. She goes back to the house and again, so she pretty much goes missing for the day. Beth and her friend have gone out looking for them whilst, whilst they're out looking for her.

She goes back to the house and there's another party going on.

Sidey: And this is where it all goes

Pete: Yeah. And this is where like, you know,

Sidey: beats off.

Reegs: Well, Jake, he, Jake forces her to give well,

Sidey: Well,

Well, he says,

Pete: Jake forces her to give your Uncle Bully a kiss. She refuses to pretty understandably, and then Jake sees that as a sign of disrespect, so he's about to, like, beat the shit out of her. He's ripped her diary in half.

Sidey: It's the mate who steps in

Pete: yeah, the sort of, like, the more conscientious friend, let's say. Steps in and and Jake almost kind of like realizes what he's about to do and then sends her up to her room She then goes outside

Sidey: I kind of, I kind of, did you feel what was about to happen? I fucking,

Pete: Yeah, well because it's in because she walks outside and she looks at the tree and then she looks at the rope and it's like And then this is when Beth comes home and says I you know, and where is she?

Sidey: It's alright, it's alright, she's home,

Pete: fine. It's fine. You know, she walked out into the yard. Wow. This next scene is is pretty tough as well

Sidey: because it's what you think, she has killed herself, or she's hanged herself and the mother is screaming her head off, and everyone rushes out, and Jake is kind of paralysed. They He knows he's responsible for, you know, well. The guy, they don't know what has happened with the rape,

Reegs: He knows he was on duty while it

Sidey: Yeah. and and the mother is trying to like lift her up like, you know, you've seen that before with people and you're trying to stop the the hanging and they cut her down, but it's really well, you're getting an ambulance and you're kind of like hoping, but

Dan: There's no CPR or anything is there? They're just kind of frozen paralyzed there.

They don't know what's going

Reegs: Well, she may have been there for ages, to be honest. We've got no idea. They just were drinking. Do you know what I mean? My, my assumption was that she'd been hanging there a

Sidey: Yeah.

Dan: too long. Yeah. And it was. And, and, you know,

Reegs: The next shot is in the hospital and you see her, you know, this was a really interesting portrayal of grief as her mate comes in and she, you know, her mate completely collapses and she has to be strong for her friend.

Like she, it's just as she's utterly, utterly

Pete: But I think I sort of like took this as, as obviously Beth has struggled in this relationship for such a long time. Well, it's 18 years they've been together but she's been struggling and now it's almost like it's taken this like absolutely horrific tragedy.

And it's, but it's also brought some clarity as to what she has to do next, which

Sidey: She, well yeah, that's right, yeah, she, now she's like, that's the fucking line, this is the line in the sand. And I'm gonna, she is coming with me,

Reegs: Well she knows that Jake will destroy them all if you know,

she...

Dan: son's

Reegs: She will be beaten to death, Nick, yeah yeah, So

Sidey: what'll happen to the other two. So he's like, no, she's fucking coming with me. We're going back to, you know, our home, our land. And we're going to have a traditional fucking thing. And he tries to argue, he's like, fucking kill us, kill me then. He's got, I think he's got her against the wall, hasn't he?

He smashes a glass next to her head instead of smashing her face. She's like, just listen, fucking kill us. Because... If that's what's gonna happen and do it now. Otherwise, I'm

Reegs: otherwise I'm going.

Yeah.

Sidey: Yeah.

Pete: So he does what he always does, which is

Sidey: to the pub and moans about her.

Pete: scuttles off to the pub to have a whinge. She, then they take the body obviously to the, to

Sidey: Tremendous like collection of beers they had in front of them.

Reegs: Incredible, wasn't it?

Sidey: like a

Pete: It was like, like, like they

Sidey: Then they moved on to

Pete: pictures, even though there's like six or seven pictures already there. And he's already like,

Dan: Yeah, because he's at the bar and everybody else is at this kind of traditional

Sidey: Yeah, he doesn't go. He doesn't go and what's his name?

The oldest son.

Reegs: the funeral is beautiful

Sidey: He's, the oldest son is back on side and there's kids there doing the haka and it's all very, you know,

Pete: hako, he was never not on side, it was just his particular problem was with the father, and the

Reegs: He despised Jake and he, there was no, he was powerless to do anything

Pete: Yeah. yeah, and so he, like, this is him sort of stepping in to do all that he can, which is to become that kind of like, you know, father figure within the family, and so he...

You know, leads the procession and they, they, they have the, I mean, this is a typical, like, you know, Maori funeral where they go into one of these buildings and sit there with the deceased for, you know, in an open casket for, and I think the My understanding of it is that like the sort of like the more higher up like say the the if they're an elder or whatever the longer you have to sort of like perform that ritual for which can be weeks or whatever where you're just satting around and you tell stories and and normally there's drinking and and celebration and everything like that but

Sidey: they should probably not be drinking on the head

Pete: yeah yeah no that is probably but they but they all kind of like you know a few of them take it in terms to to have the conversation with with grace

Sidey: The kids are kind of lined up down the left and then two says something

Pete: yeah

Sidey: of apologize and gives her a kiss. It's

Pete: That's all I meant was, was just, you know, like, you know, friends forever. Kind of, you know, love you, love

Dan: all taking their own guilt from it.

Reegs: Well, they know how they all contributed to them.

Pete: Yeah. And, and Beth basically tells the story of, of her, you know, of her life about, you know, how she got there, you know, you find out that exactly as you said there before, Riggs were, you know, that she was from a, a more traditional family that, that they didn't like Jake you know, at all, didn't want to

Sidey: banged to rights. Yeah,

Pete: and,

and she, and because of her, you know, she was like obstinate and didn't want to, yeah. You know, seen to be seen to kind of like be giving into like the family tradition. So she was, she made a promise to like never go back. And, and this is what it's cost her. Like that choice, choice to never go back.

That she, you know, she's lost a child and, and lost everything else pretty much.

Sidey: I think we we next we go back to the house, don't we? And she's fixing because Jake in the in the rage when he bullied us with a kiss, he's ripped her storybook up, her diary storybook thing that she's had on the go and Beth is fixing it.

She's sellotaping each individual page back. Yeah. And then they ask her to read.

Pete: one of the stories,

Sidey: the stories and when she pulls open the book and goes to the last page, it's obviously the diary where she's written about her being raped and you just see the mother's face and you're like, me. This film is

Reegs: me, this film is...

Sidey: Yeah, there's there's still more misery to come and she realizes exactly what the catalyst was for for the suicide

Reegs: She's

Sidey: so she marches into the pub she marched into the pub and the the three guys are there jake his mate the other one he's relatively sensible and bully and she just says you fucking pig you know and she doesn't outright say it at first and jake tries to stick up for him and there's some women you fucking don't come here and slag off my mates then she makes him read the thing and you just see the

Reegs: Doesn't he at one point even try and strike

Cris: Yeah, it's her because it's her and the son. Yeah, the oldest son and

Reegs: So he finally

Cris: tries to hit her and then he stands up and is like almost, he doesn't say anything but it's just, not today. You're not doing this again.

Sidey: he reads it you see the rage just come down on his face and

Dan: Well it is

Sidey: you know that

Dan: not that direction because... Cliff who raped

Cris: Uncle Bully.

Sidey: Uncle Bully, he's gonna get it, he's gonna get it,

Dan: beating. He, he's gonna take a,

a

Reegs: Bully's special prize.

Dan: It

Sidey: he gets the thrashing, he gets in like an almighty hiding,

Pete: gets like glass, he gets bottled in the dick. Yeah, yeah.

Sidey: Left on the, on the floor, and Jake's, when they go, he's just outside

Dan: I can't believe he's outside again,

Sidey: he's, you'll be back.

He says you'll be back. He's just scream, impotently just shouting into the

Dan: gets in the car and pulls away and you hear the police sirens kind of pulling in and Jake slumped down in front of the bar and you hope that they're going to take him away and he ain't going

Sidey: Yeah, I'm sure that was his come up.

And he was, he was gone.

Dan: it, it was a pan to the end of the film and not really

Pete: were waiting for that, like, happy ending.

Sidey: It was a

Dan: well it was a

Pete: Well, it

Sidey: at least those ones had escaped

Pete: Yeah, now,

Dan: But there's so much baggage

Pete: interestingly, because this is an adaptation of a book, and there's actually been a film sequel of this film, and I think there are two more books in the series, which I know nothing about, and I will get involved with at some point, but

even

the fact that all they're doing, they're just driving off, and he's just there ranting, like, you say, yeah.

Sidey: into the void of nothingness.

Pete: But even then that's not enough of a happy ending because you know he's still there even if he goes inside for Cutting someone's dick off or whatever. He'll be out again. God only knows what's gonna You know, he's still gonna be an influence in their life and so on and so really there's there's nothing good to take away from this film at

Cris: Well, when it finished, it

Pete: than the film itself

Cris: When it finished, it was good. At least it's finished.

Pete: Yeah, yeah because

Sidey: I mean, it's

Pete: harrowing

Reegs: and brutal,

Sidey: So the, the, the actual film itself, like it's brilliant. The way, the story that it tells you, like, it's utterly compelling, even though it's like completely and utterly miserable and harrowing

Reegs: and all the themes around cultural identity and that, like summarizing I think a generation as well of, of New Zealand indigenous people who were sort of abandoned by their government and that sort of thing as well.

Dan: as well and and the detail of of poverty as well that he puts in there from from the first scenes Where, you know, you're, you're looking at people pushing their shopping trolleys along.

They're staring out onto Grace reading a story out in a, a very open garden next to a street and everything and, and a road. You get those, those evenings where they're,

Sidey: Well, there's

Dan: know, the parties and everything going

Sidey: there's lots of shots of them literally like, wrong side of the tracks almost, having to cross things to get to the place and then jump, jump down cars, like burnt out cars

Dan: is, this is it. You know, and you mentioned Pete, the budget and everything that they would have been constrained to, it's not Hollywood budget. You know, you didn't feel this was any less of a film. Thanks to the budget, you know, that.

Pete: In, in that regard

as,

Dan: a harrowing

Pete: but, you know, all those things you were talking about their rigs, but also like as a, as a commentary on like alcohol abuse within like a family setup. I mean, it's as good as anything that I've ever seen in terms of, cause it shows them when they're so, when the parents are sober.

And the booze isn't around and so on and you know, there is like elements of love there and there are like happier interactions and there's hope and everything and, and

Sidey: they would have been happy at some point.

Yeah, okay that 18 years ago

Pete: know, like Beth's, Beth's drinking, I mean is, is part of it, but nothing

Sidey: She's probably drinking to cope

Pete: exactly like her, her drinking is, is as a result of this tyrant that they've got like living In, in their house, whose, whose behaviour is just perpetuated by his friends and all the people around him who put him up on this pedestal and he's a fucking piece of shit. there's like not a single redeeming, like, feature in him as a

Dan: Well that, that one day they go out I think she says, when, you know, they're saying Oh, why has he got to go into the pub? And they say, when did you ever, ever see your father do any of this, ever? You know, this was the one day So if he wants one pint, let's go and obviously, we all knew

Sidey: to him earlier on, like, you're a hard man to, to be with or something, you so strong recommend, but, you know, with a war, with a proviso that it's tough, tough material

to

Dan: tough,

Sidey: through.

Dan: tough. Enjoy these kind of conversations a little bit more. You can understand exactly what we're talking about, and it is rewarding in the sense that you've seen it. But it's it's difficult to say you're gonna have a great night after this one.

Reegs: night

on like on a technical level, on the storytelling level, the actors, you know, it's all great. And then to see where Temuera Morrison has gone as

Sidey: the

Reegs: career

Dan: The performances were

Sidey: You know the, the, the scene with the suicide where they find her in the tree, like they filmed that, it must have been like hard work, and then it, they fucking watched it back and the lighting was all shite and they had to redo it and fucking imagine having to go through that.

Reegs: He would get her to shout at him in between takes. To get him like, wound up. So that when it started he was like, ready to go sort of thing. Like, yeah. And he, he's like that all the time. Even when he's singing with his mates. Barely controlled rage.

Sidey: It's the vest. It's the vest that does it, the wife beater.

Reegs: He

was always getting apparently getting challenged for fights

Sidey: Afterwards. Yeah. Plenty of people would want to beat him up because see if

Reegs: a hard man

Sidey: Yeah.

So strong recommend from Dan who's had to leave.

Reegs: Yeah,

Chris

Sidey: And strong recommend from all of us. Yeah,

Reegs: he didn't

Cris: I, I found it difficult.

Sidey: I

mean, it absolutely is

Cris: could have been, it could have been a Romanian movie. I've seen this in, in different language with different people. And I've seen it in reality as well. A couple of times back home when I was a kid, but the same, the lighting, the.

The hard man and a wife beater, loads of kids. He either rapes a neighbor or someone rapes his kids. It's, it's a, it's a traditional Romanian dark movie, which it's, it's, I understand different culture. We don't have them tattoos on the face. You wouldn't get away with that back home, but I don't get me wrong.

I kind of enjoyed it in, in a weird way, but I don't know. I I've seen it already in a, and it was difficult because I couldn't get the translation. As a subtitles and I'm in English is not my first language. So normally to translation helps, even if it's the translations in English and, and with the, with the slang and with the dialect that they use and obviously Maori New Zealand, it was difficult.

I didn't understand all the words. Obviously you can see

Reegs: your Spanish, 'cause that could make this week's,

Cris: That was, that was better, but again it's not a strong recommend for me. It's a recommend, but again, yeah, we're,

Reegs: a beige recommend

just

Cris: unhappy when you watch this.

Pete: Everything's a strong recommend.

Sidey: Mm.