Whale Rider Review Niki Caro’s film, Whale Rider, beautifully captures the small village of Whangara, which is located in the northeast of New Zealand’s North Island. The film portrays a Maori tribe that tells the story of a long-held tradition. This film is rich in symbolism, which is easy for any viewer to understand. Whale Rider does a wonderful job of capturing the attention of the audience because of the intense and close relationships between the characters, the way Caro conveys the movie’s
Niki Caro’s highly commended film, ‘Whale Rider’, tells the story of a young Maori’s girl’s effort to prove herself to her grandfather, the Chief of Whangara. Her grandfather has traditional attitudes that blind him to see his granddaughter’s potential as chief and it is only when tragedy strikes that Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes) can prove to Koro (Rawiri Paratene) that her community’s link with the traditions and culture of the Maori lives on. The film is set in the small New Zealand seaside village
‘Whale rider,’ is a film directed by Niki Caro. It explores themes of duty, culture and tradition through the eyes of Paikea Apirana. She is the protagonist in this film and narrates sections too. Viewers are introduced to different characters throughout the movie, who have different opinions about their culture and how they should uphold them. Culture, tradition and duty are perceived differently by the various characters. Paikea is very passionate about her history and ancestors. Even though just
Whale Rider Essay ‘Whale Rider’ directed by Nicki Caro has won many awards such as Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer and Independent Spirit Award for Best International Film. The award-winning film explores the many privileges, obligations and duties of the leaders and potential leaders in protagonist Pai’s Maori community. Caro does this through characterisations of Pai, and her supporting characters, such as Koro, her grandfather. He believes that his duty was to establish
The movie Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, have many things in common with the book Nervous Conditions, written in 2002 by Tsitsi Dangarembga. These two share many common themes such as sexism, discrimination, and loss. The two main characters of each story share one major characteristic in common. Paikea from Whale rider, and Tambo from Nervous Conditions, both disrupt the sociological and cultural norms in their respective communities and challenge a greater authority, who is a part of their
In the Film Whale Riders, the director Niki Caro, does an excellent job in developing critical themes combining spiritual and religious traditions resonating with the audience. The compelling themes demonstrated in the movie such as leadership, change of role in women, connection to nature, traditions and change are all eloquently presented as the plot unfolds. As a young woman myself, I can feel empathy towards the main protagonist, Pai, as she puts maximum effort in convincing her grandfather Koro
Whale Rider is an expressive, cultural drama film by the award winning director Nikola Jean "Niki" Caro, that explores the ideas of love, rejection, tradition and gender roles. It's a story about a young Maori girl, Paikea Apirana that's born into the chief line along with a twin brother. With her twin brother dying moments after birth, only Paikea was left to fulfil the role of heir, though Koro, the current chief and Pai's grandpa refuses as does their culture and religion. Throughout the film
In the film 'Whale Rider', by Niki Caro which follows the journey of a young girl named Paikea Apirana and her struggle for acceptance as a leader of her Māori iwi, and especially her grandfather. An important character in this film is Pai herself. This character has significant importance as she is used to portray numerous important ideas and themes throughout the film. Pai helps me to understand and appreciate that women can also be leaders that are equal to men if they have the right attributes
Throughout “Whale Rider” Paikea is expected to listen to what her grandpa tells her to do and say. Personally, Paikea feels conflicted and under pressure to stick to her grandpas rules, as she wants to go her own way. Her grandpa finds it hard to see Paikea as her own person and can’t accept modernity, which he is not used to. He also stops her from learning the ways of a Maori chief, which is something she still tries to do in secret with the help of the rest of her family. Koro sometimes fails
The story of Whale Rider takes place in a Maori village in New Zealand. The main character is a 12 year old girl name Paikea “Pai” Apirana and her ambition to become the next Chief of her village. Along with following on Pai’s story, the movie showed a great number of local Maori religion and culture. Some of the things I will explore is the Maori religion, gender roles, and a personal reflection on what was learned through the movie. Maori Religion focuses on animism. Three aspects of this religion