Review of Once Were Warriors (1994) by Jared S — 14 Feb 2009

While it wasn't much of a stretch to imagine Temuera Morrison playing a badguy, it's definitely not the character he played in Star Wars Attack of the Clones . . . it's a drunken irresponsible violent husband and a terrible father who's only given (arguably) two moments of redeemability, but still, it's hard to sympathize for him, considering that by the end of the flick, he's lost his family. And plus, the story focuses mainly on the rest of the family anyway, and their struggle to try to maintain some semblance of calm and peace amidst an extremely unstable and volatile environment. That said, given the material he worked with, he deserved every award he and the rest of the cast and crew might've been nominated for. The entire cast was exemplary, the story is very real and very honest, it doesn;'t shy away from things that an American movie probably would. And it ends as more of a resolution than an ending, but it's an altogether satisfying one.

But keep this one well away from the kids until their old enough to watch it. But as always, parental discretion advised.