Broken English

The plot of "Broken English" is easy to summarize:

Boy and girl meet. Boy and girl like each other. Girl's father is violent and jealous. Father hates boy. Boy must subdue father. Boy fights father and wins. (Unfortunately, boy accidently runs over father's vicious but hapless dog in the process.) Boy and girl live happily ever after.

The video jacket says "Broken English" was made by the producers of "Once Were Warriors." Many of the two movies' elements are similar (notably the primitive father in each), though this one has only about one-fifth the quantity of stomach-churning violence of the greatly overrated "Once Were Warriors." But in both movies, the father exhibits much violently stupid behavior, and midway through this one I wondered, "Why don't the police just lock the guy up?" I gave "Broken English" a rating of six.

"Broken English" is about a Croatian woman who lives with her old world parents in New Zealand and falls in love with a Maori man which, of course, causes problems while she acts as though she had no clue that would happen. Duh. Though it manages a modicum of entertainment, this film seems to know where it wants to go but has to pound square characters through round holes to make the plot work. In the process there are too many tongue clucking moments where the film's credibility is breached such as when a modern Maori man fights and chants like an ancient Maori warrior or a woman swims with dolphins which, as we learn, they only do with pregnant women...yeah, right. The characters in "Broken English" are in serious need of some conflict resolution...something which no one seeks as it would destroy the contrived drama. "Once Were Warriors" this film is not. However, it is an okay watch for those into Kiwi flicks with time on their hands. (C+)

There have been a lot of great culture clash stories, and culture clash love stories, over the years, but this isn't one of them. Part of the problem is we have three cultures here (New Zealand, Bosnian, and Chinese), yet we really don't explore them in depth (except perhaps the Bosnians), so there seems no apparent reason why the New Zealand and Bosnians wouldn't get along except for plot purposes. And while the sex between the two main characters is well-handled, it seems to be the only thing the relationship is based on; we don't really see them get to know each other. The two main characters are appealing, and the two actors who were in ONCE WERE WARRIORS(here playing brothers instead of father and son) are both good, but it still falls short.

I found 'Broken English' one night at the video store when I was bored and couldn't find anything else to rent. I read the caption and that was enough to perk up interest. I have to say I thought the movie was pretty cool, although I agree that there are major gaps in what makes people like Ivan and his son Darko tick. The racism of Ivan, of course, is just ridiculous. Not that they used it in the film, but that he should have the gall to treat the Maori culture so shabbily (what is that black child doing in the family if he doesn't like black people??). After all, his family came to NZ fleeing war, not the other way around. The Maori were happily (hopefully so)going about their business long before the Croats showed up (probably the same could be said for the English, the Scots, the Irish and all the other Euro-peans arriving on boats to lord and rule for all these years). At least the film gives people, particularly American audiences, a glimpse into a little known culture like New Zealand (kiwi fruit and Russell Crowe, that's about it--and he gets tagged as Aussie most of the time). A shame is that Marton Csokas only gets to give himself to us as a straight-up meat head (a very good portrayal, but a meat head nonetheless) because he's a talented fellow. Ah, well, such is life.

Tee

This movie was hard to track down. Living as I do in America, I had to order a VHS copy. I saw the NC-17 version, by the way, which I didn't find to be too graphic. The sex scene was extremely sexy and I thought the actors playing Nina and Eddie, the young couple at the center of the movie, had a ton of chemistry. You could believe they were attracted to each other. Nina, the Croation daughter of Ivan, was an interesting character: a wild rebel and a scared child eager to remain her father's favorite all in one. The actor who played Ivan did the best job, as a man who fled his homeland due to ethnic cleansing and finds himself obsessed with race and dissatisfied with his new life in New Zealand. The beginning half of this movie was more enjoyable than the latter half, when the story devolves into a slightly predictable romantic comedy and none of the interesting implications about class, race, and family are dealt with in a serious way. However, a lot of romantic movies never even ask the audience to think about anything greater at all, so Broken English still comes out ahead of more traditional movie fare. Perhaps it's because this movie comes from the producers of "Once Were Warriors" which is one of my favorite dramas of all time. Watch for the romance between Nina and Eddie (played by Julien Arahanga from "Once Were Warriors",) Ivan, and Martin Csokas' portrayal of Ivan's menacing son.