Naming Number Two

A different culture than mine, this was an eye-opener. Tradition counts, feelings do, death is a departing and part and parcel of everything. And so everything turns into a big celebration and tying together feast including pig, trees, foreigners, music and naturally mishaps and power struggles. Features the epic "Bathe In The River", a very moving song by amazing New Zealand musician Hollie Smith and the Mt Raskill local people choir. This film forms an important link in New Zealand film lineage as it is one that portrays a very important happening in an 'island' family living in Auckland's 'wild' west suburbs. We get to experience a largely different and unknown culture right in the middle of a 'normal' suburb. This is Auckland, the city with the world's largest Polynesian population.

I went to school in Mt. Roskill, where the film is set; I drive through the suburb everyday to and from work; and my mother is from Polynesia. On several levels I could relate to this film and was proud to see Auckland, and it's Polynesian culture, represented in such an accurate and endearing way.

No. 2 centers around Nana Maria (a great performance by Ruby Dee), who wants her grandchildren to organize a feast for her at which she will name her heir, who will take over the house when she dies. Tense relationships both amongst and between generations are slowly and subtly introduced, and over the course of the day the family struggles to negotiate their Fijian culture within the New Zealand context.

The acting was superb (although notably, I think a minority of the actors were actually Fijian), the story subtle but beautiful, and Auckland was represented very accurately and stunningly. A feel-good film that makes you want to get in contact with your long lost cousins and reminisce about days gone by.

Great characters, great acting, and an enjoyable film.

This is a great film portraying human interaction and how families interact.

However, for a film that is supposed to portray a Fijian family, what a pity there was only one Fijian (the Priest) in the cast. The others were mainly a reasonably talented group of Maori and other South Pacific Island actors.

Why could the producers not have found Fijian actors to make the film more authentic?

That the film was produced more or less on our own doorstep (and we had not even heard of it before it was seen in "Shorts") and showed our own well-known and familiar locality added additional colour and interest to our viewing. But of course, a film is always "local" to those who live where it is filmed.

This was one of the most feel good movies I've watched in a long time. I wanted to go straight home after I saw it and give all my family big hugs eh. Great story :) Plus it had Rene Naufahu in it who I love - I wish he was starring in more movies. Set in Mount Roskill, in Auckland, you see another side to life in the big city. Such a real portrayal of family life. I thought all the young actors in the movie did a great job - definitely some up and coming talent amongst them. This movie is definitely one to take your Mum or Dad, Nana or Grandpa, Brother or Sister to and be prepared to get emotional. The storyline itself sounds at first like it is going to be a bit bland, but believe me, you'll never be more moved.

I saw this movie last night, and was very very impressed with the quality of the shots, the genuine actors, and the awesome writing of the film. Such an authentic combination of humor, drama, family ties, history, and culture, it made this movie truly worth watching. It's not often that you get a "nz" film that has you glued to the story the whole way through, so Number 2 stood out because it managed to do that. And even though I recognised some actors from NZ TV show's, they were enough in character in this film to let me see them as their new characters.

A genuine story, with a great local cast. it exceeded my expectations. I would recommend this movie to anyone, and I look forward to seeing what other great work Toa Fraser brings to us in the future!