This movie is about a larger than life character, Dalvanius Prime, who after a successful soul music career in the USA, returned to his home town of Patea, a small town in South Taranaki, in the North Island of New Zealand.
Not long after he returned, the major employer, which was a freezing works - for those not of New Zealand, an abbotoir/slaughterhouse - closed, economically devastating the town.
This I part I already knew from the media, and I well remember Poi-E being released in the early 1980s and its impact on the NZ psyche.
What I didn't know, was how this story really unfolded - this is where this movie comes in. I found it to be absolutely one of the most engaging and enjoyable movies I have seen in a long while.
It was touching, funny, inspiring, haunting, and a joy to watch. So many unique characters who all made this song the NZ cultural icon it became.
After watching this, I would argue that this song was the catalyst that sparked a renaissance of the Maori language here in New Zealand, leading to the establishment of the Maori Language Commission in 1987.
As I understand it at the time, Maori (Te Reo) was a dying language. That is because the Maori youth of that time had been actively discouraged from learning it - this is reflected in Maori language speakers today, fluent speakers are either in their 70's or 80's, or in the 20's & 30's, with a 30-40 year gap of those who didn't speak it.
Watch this movie about a great song that was revolutionary in its time, and it saved a language and a culture.
