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We saw this tonight and it's wonderful.
It's set in New Zealand and it's about this Maori tribe that's sort of failing to thrive and needs to turn things around soon if they're going to hold together as a community. The main character is the granddaughter of the chief, who's about 11 and is basically the only one among them who shows all kinds of potential for and interest in carrying on the chiefhood, but the grandfather won't teach her because she's a girl, and teaching her to carry on the traditions would also inherently be breaking them.
The movie does a really good job of laying out the complexity of the situation--the grandfather loves her, but he lives by ideals that kind of keep him from doing the right thing. And the people are sort of ambivalent about their heritage--they care, but they live in the modern world. The girl who plays the main character is amazing and you can't help but care about her and want her to succeed. And they even make it clear why the grandfather feels the way he does. It's just really very well done. I say it's a must-see.
It's set in New Zealand and it's about this Maori tribe that's sort of failing to thrive and needs to turn things around soon if they're going to hold together as a community. The main character is the granddaughter of the chief, who's about 11 and is basically the only one among them who shows all kinds of potential for and interest in carrying on the chiefhood, but the grandfather won't teach her because she's a girl, and teaching her to carry on the traditions would also inherently be breaking them.
The movie does a really good job of laying out the complexity of the situation--the grandfather loves her, but he lives by ideals that kind of keep him from doing the right thing. And the people are sort of ambivalent about their heritage--they care, but they live in the modern world. The girl who plays the main character is amazing and you can't help but care about her and want her to succeed. And they even make it clear why the grandfather feels the way he does. It's just really very well done. I say it's a must-see.