Review of Whale Rider (2003) by Landon T — 16 Sep 2012

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and thought the actress of Pai was great. She is bound and determined to be one of the boys. Her goal is to be the new chief, but her Grandfather is deeply against it. He would scold her if she would watch or try to participate in anything with the school. The grandfather by tradition has to choose a boy, so he isn't interested in Pai at all trying to interfere. It was interesting learning about the culture of the Maori people and seeing how beautiful the coastal area of New Zealand was. Even though Pai lived her grandfather, she was so focused on her goal that she would do what she had to do to achieve it.

This movie ties into what we are learning in class because of the culture. The women's roles were different back then and that is why the grandfather was not willing to let Pai try and be chief. In today's time women can go in to the military, vote, and do anything a man can do. Also the ancestry is common to the Indigenous people. They cherished Gods creatures and believed that their ancestors were in everything. When Pai's grandfather was showing her how to tie the rope he said that each strand of the rope was on of her ancestor's.