Director: Ian Mune
Writer: Alan Duff
Director of Photography: Allen Guilford ("Utu", "The Navigator", plus episodes of "Xena" & "Hercules"!!)
Camera Operator: Alun Bollinger (dop: "Heavenly Creatures")
Jake Heke: Temuera Morrison
Sonny Heke: Clint Eruera
Tania Rogers: Nancy Brunning
Mulla Rota: Rawiri Paratene
Beth Heke: Rene Owen
Rita: Edna Stirling
Mookie: Tammy Davis |
When "Once Were Warriors" burst onto our screens in 1995, it offered us a powerful, affecting insight into an aspect of urban Maori family life not previously explored on film - the loyalty, the love, the frustration; the sense of dispossession and powerlessness that drove men to violence and women to stand by their men until forced to recognise that nothing would change unless they did. Now comes its sequel, again based on a book by award-winning writer Alan Duff.
"What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" begins where the earlier film left off; its focus is Jake, now distanced from his children as well as his wife. There is a new woman in his life - Rita - but Jake remains the same hard drinking, hard fighting romantic, who hits first and thinks afterwards. We find him in a pub, playing guitar, drinking and, of course, using his fists. These scenes are intercut with the build-up to a gang fight which culminates in the death of Jake's son Nig. At Nig's Tangi (funeral) Jake is brought face-to-face with wife Beth and his now grown children, the eldest of whom, Sonny, angrily rejects him.
Also at the funeral is Tania, a tough, single-minded young woman. A member of Nig's gang, The Kai Patu Kaahu, and his lover, she is wise to the way of gangs and well aware of their codes of behaviour. And she is determined to avenge Nig's death. When Jake rejects Sonny's plea to help him revenge Nig, it is Tania who convinces Sonny and his mate Mookie to join the rival gang, The Black Snakes, in the hope that the gang will revenge Nig's death.
Whilst the young people are drawn deeper and deeper into the violent world of the gangs, Jake, now rejected by son, lover and drinking mates, hits rock bottom and desperately begins to look for a way of re-connecting with Sonny in the hope of saving him from violence and death.
Whilst the two story-lines don't come together as successfully as they might, the performances are excellent. Morrison has us really believing in Jake's movement towards some kind of redemption; Nancy Brunning lights up the screen as Tania - you just wish there was more hope for such a gutsy young woman - and Clint Eruera, making his screen debut, is convincing as Sonny. There are wonderful supporting roles from Rawiri Paratene as Mulla Rotan; Rena Owen as Beth Heke; and Edna Stirling as Rita.
There are no easy answers to "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" - it is a dark, confronting, violent film, with only fleeting moments of humour and tenderness. It reminded me of "Romper Stomper" in its focus on the violent world of urban gangs, with their twisted sense of humour and pride inevitably creating a vicious spiral of hate and revenge. However the ending, although abrupt, does offer some hope that Jake is finally moving in the right direction.
Worth seeing for its wonderful performances, but be prepared for the violence, particularly in the closing sequences.
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