Intermission: Masterpiece 'Whale Rider' attains universal appeal

Jim Wunderle is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.

In an age when movies for and about young teens are popular puff pieces like "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," slasher/gore fests or mind-numbing gross-out films featuring embarrassing sexual innuendoes and endless scatological humor, it's a wonderful thing to behold a film of such beauty and with such spiritual gravity as the New Zealand masterpiece "Whale Rider."

Centering around a 12-year-old Maori girl who, against all of the tribe's patriarchal traditions, is the logical heir to the position of chief, "Whale Rider" has won the Audience Award at respected festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and San Francisco.

It has also picked up numerous other awards and has become a shining star on the 2003 festival circuit. And deservedly so.

Helping the film draw audiences in is first-time actress 12-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes. Word has it that casting director Diana Rowan (who chose the then-unknown Anna Paquin for "The Piano) saw about 10,000 young women for this leading role. She is simply radiant on the screen and no doubt has a long film career ahead of her. If an Oscar was awarded for best newcomer, she would win by a landslide.

The Maori tribe of New Zealand believes its ancestors came to the island nation by canoe.

One particular clan, in the village of Whangara, believes its first chief, Paikea, reached shore on the back of a whale. The animal saved Paikea after his canoe capsized. So even to this day, the Maori have a very special relationship with the whales.

The chief of the village is the aging Koro. His son, and would-be successor, has turned his back on the ways of the Maori. He fathers a set of twins, a boy and girl, but the boy and the mother die during childbirth.

The remaining child, Pai, seems of little use to the royal line as all chiefs must be male.

When her father leaves for the Western world, Pai is left in the care of Chief Koro and her grandmother, the quietly wise Nanny Flowers.

While Koro loves the girl, he is much too set in his ways to consider that she might become a Maori chief. It just isn't allowed. As soon as she is old enough to understand such things, though, Pai dreams of leading her people one day. Even as a young girl she admonishes the older women of the village to quit smoking. The Maori women, she declares, must take care of their child-bearing abilities.

When Koro realizes his son is never coming back to the village to stay, he opens a school to facilitate the training of youngsters so a new chief may be chosen. Make that male youngsters. While Pai has more desire, and more ability, than any of the young boys, Koro forbids her from the training.

The young woman is determined, however, and eavesdrops on the sessions. She, on the advice of Nanny, also enlists the aid of her somewhat portly and lazy uncle to show her the things he learned about the Maori in his youth.

Pai is a fast learner and it's obvious that she is a natural leader. It's even obvious to Koro, but he is too steadfast in tradition to open his heart to the idea.

The third act of "Whale Rider" features a situation of extreme spiritual consequences and only a true leader will have the wherewithal to resolve. I will spare the details in this review because I can't do it justice.

I will say that viewer's emotions of all kinds will run rampant during the last half hour of the film, so be prepared.

Director Niki Caro realized that, due to the specifics in the novel upon which she based her screenplay, there was no other choice but to film on location in Whangara, New Zealand. This adds much to the film's overall tone. Many of the extras are actual Maori tribespeople, and their lack of professional acting skills is more than made up for by their utter familiarity with the subject matter. New Zealand is a beautiful country, and production designer Grant Major (who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on "The Lord of the Rings," which also was shot in New Zealand) uses the natural surroundings to great effect.

If you are reluctant to believe that a film about a 12-year-old member of an indigenous New Zealand tribe could have any relevance to your life, please trust me and the thousands of people who have lauded it at the festivals.

"Whale Rider" transcends its movie roots and has a universal appeal to the human spirit.

The film will definitely make countless "best of" lists for 2003.