Ka Whawhai Tonu

Story

Set against the backdrop of the Battle of Orakau, young Kopu (Hinerangi Harawira-Nicholas) is forced to play the role of medium to the war gods, while her mother uses her to elicit fear in others and to maintain her own precarious grasp on the little power she wields.

As the English soldiers advance throughout the region, a young ‘half-caste’ boy called Haki (Paku Fernandez) is captured by Kopu’s people who plan to use him as a sacrifice to the war gods. Haki strikes up an unlikely friendship with Kopu, who is tired of being lonely, and of being segregated from her people as a sacred being, and who just wants to be like everyone else.

Their friendship is discovered and Haki is carried to the battlefront to be sacrificed but Kopu refuses to allow him to be killed and uses magic to save his life. Her people believe she has betrayed them and lock her in a well while a battle rages. Haki is determined to save her life and, as the fighting intensifies, he will stop at nothing to set her free.

As the Chiefs come to realise that they will not chase off the soldiers that day, a small band of children, led by Haki and Kopu, manage to escape the carnage. They set off to find the mysterious grandmother Haki is searching for, and soon learn that not everything is as it appears, that enemies can become friends, that family can become foes and that hope can be found, even in defeat.

Themes

War; witchcraft; genocide; racism; family breakdown; children separated from parents

Violence

Ka Whawhai Tonu has some violence. For example:

Haki is laying on the ground, bound and gagged, while a man tells him that the tongues of fire will strip him bare. The man then asks Haki if he should be sacrificed right there and then.
Haki is punched in the stomach by a character who proclaims that: ‘I should have the first kill. The sacrificial rites are mine.’
Haki describes how he shoots ducks and sells the smoked meat to the whites.
A massacre is recounted and people are reminded about all the women and children who were burned during the attack.
Haki has flashbacks of his mother and baby sister dying.
A woman slaps her daughter in the face.
A man pushes a boy to the ground.
Haki has a knife held to his head and he is then knocked unconscious.
Kopu struggles to free herself from a man’s grasp, while another man tries to stab Haki in the throat with a knife.
Kopu appears to invoke a Maori magic and then throws something at the man about to kill Haki. The man is hit in the head and collapses dead on the ground.
Soldiers attack a Maori fort. Multiple shots are fired, and a girl is dragged backwards and knocked unconscious. Many men are shot and killed and Haki lays near a fence as wounded soldiers fall around him.
A mother grabs a fist full of her daughter’s hair and rips a chunk of hair from her scalp.
Kopu tells her people: ‘If you hurt the boy I will destroy you.’ She refers to the manner in which she killed the man about to execute Haki.
A man threatens Haki with a large knife, pointing it at his throat.
A character says, ‘My soldier was killed using witchcraft. I should have just killed her.’ He then leaves with the intention of killing Kopu.
Women sing a song about the bones of the massacred laying in a shattered pile.
There is a gun fight in the woods one night as another clan comes to reinforce those under siege by the soldiers.
Kopu throws a water bottle at Haki and hits him with it when she realises that he lied to her. She refuses to let him help her and he tells her that she can just rot in the well.
A man shoots at Haki.
Haki and some children make bullets while the adults plan to kill Kopu at sunrise.
There are multiple explosions as makeshift grenades detonate and people duck and cover.
A man is about to shoot Kopu with a gun. She admonishes him, saying, ‘You would kill your own with weapons of your enemy.’
Haki shoots a bullet into the wooden club a man is about to use to bash Kopu to death.
Kopu shoots a man in the chest.
A man is shot in the head. He continues to fire on English soldiers until he drops down dead.
A group of men wish to be ‘the tip of a spear’. They are willing to die, so that their people might escape.
Maori men bludgeon soldiers to death.
Bodies fall all around and a woman is shot and killed as she tries to help Haki and Kopu get some children to safety.
A soldier slices a woman down.
A small child is shot in the chest.
Men, women and soldiers are shot, stabbed, bludgeoned and cut down with axes.
Haki’s father slaps him and knocks him to the ground.
Haki’s father tells his son, ‘If anyone ever takes you again, I will hunt them down to the ends of the earth and slaughter every last man, woman and child amongst them.’
A woman is shown lying dead on the ground, covered in blood.
Haki’s father threatens him at gun point.
Haki and Kopu happen upon a village following a massacre. There are bodies lying near a lake and on the ground.
Kopu is shot at.
Haki’s father and a Maori man fight each other with a spear and a sword. Haki’s father is cut in the face and nearly drowned as they punch each other and wrestle in the water. The Maori man is stabbed in the side with a knife and Haki’s father is killed when he is stabbed straight through his throat and up into his mouth with a sharpened piece of bone.

Sexual references

Ka Whawhai Tonu has some sexual references. For example:

People claim that Haki had sex with Kopu.
A woman refers to Haki’s age, saying, ‘There is no hair on his balls yet.’
Haki is told that if he plays his cards right he could be a woman’s third husband one day.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Ka Whawhai Tonu has some substance use. For example:

Men and soldiers are shown drinking from bottles, alcohol is implied.
Kopu’s mother is shown drinking with a group of soldiers.

Nudity and sexual activity

Ka Whawhai Tonu has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

A woman’s dress slips down and the side of her naked breast is exposed as she lays on the ground, crying over the body of her husband.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in Ka Whawhai Tonu.

Coarse language

Ka Whawhai Tonu has some coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Ka Whawhai Tonu (Struggle without End) is a Maori movie (with English subtitles) depicting the historic battle of Orakau. The movie has evocative cinematography and powerful performances, especially from the young actors who play the lead roles. It also has important messages about learning from the past and allowing history to reveal its truths. But due to the general content, the movie is best suited to children over 15 years.

These are the main messages from Ka Whawhai Tonu:

People should fight for what they believe is right.
People should fill themselves up with the best of what they imagine themselves to be until they are able to discover who they truly are.
The seeds of hope can grow even when they are sown in fields of unfathomable destruction and horrific loss.

Values in Ka Whawhai Tonu that you could reinforce with your children are compassion, empathy, courage, sacrifice and determination.

Ka Whawhai Tonu could also give you the chance to talk with your children about issues like these:

Using children as pawns (of war).
Allowing prejudice and discrimination to determine the way you treat others.
Hurting others or using violence to achieve your goals.
Lying to those you love.