The Convert

Tamahori coaxes every last ounce of actors skill, and doesn't spare any punches in crafting the honest reveals that are his films.

This is a thoughtful and insightful look at a lay preacher who lands up in a very early colonial outpost where colonial oppression is already being enacted. To balance this he shows that there were some Europeans who cared for and highly respected Maori.

Yes, there is shockingly realistic and bloody battle between tribes, but there are also lovingly depicted examples of their cultural norms, which put the English's(still) lack of care for those in their tribe into sharp contrast.

The way that the actors are framed in the landscape, the mud and squallor of the European camp, the beautifully peaceful and happy hill top encampments of the Maori. There were several reasons why Maori didn't build by the swamps and wetland valley floors. Once was the ability to defend, and another they weren't flooded out and muddy.

I came away shaken by this chilling view of my ancestors as awful colonisers and callousness to their own (to the point of murdering to get pecuniary advantage), and in awe of the mana (power, goodness, worth of respect) of Maori leaders. This contrast continues right to the present day in Aotearoa/New Zealand.