The Whale Rider

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to watch this thought provoking if not heart retching film. The audience is introduced to Paikea, a twelve year old girl. We learn of her story, of her family, lineage and tradition of her people, the Maori tribe native to New Zealand. I feel in the United States many of us have lost sight of the beliefs and traditions of our ancestors and the countries we come from. It was refreshing to see in this movie that tradition is something that can still be valued and cherished.

Pai’s grandfather, Koro, is a man who has a live or die attitude when it comes to implementing his culture and traditions. Koro believed that the new chief of the Maori people would be one of his male descendants. To his agony, neither of his sons stepped up to the plate and took on the role of becoming chief. Instead they seemed to mock this ideation by choosing to live lives opposite of the high expectations of their father. Koro is devastated by their decision and puts new found hope in the offspring of his first son Porourangi. Porourangi’s wife gives him a set of twins, a son and a daughter.  However, his wife and son regrettably pass away, leaving Koro and Porourangi with only a female heir.

This female heir is Pai. She is raised by her grandparents Koro and Nanny Flowers. As much as Koro loves his granddaughter she will never be a grandson and therefore always a reminder how Koro failed to produce a new leader. Pai is confused by Koro’s treatment of her. One minute he is loving and kind, picking her up from school every day and letting her sit on his lap while he rides his bike. Other times he is fierce and vicious, screaming at Pai and excluding her from the chief lessons the young boys in the village are receiving. Pai is confused and doesn’t understand. She is able to confide in Nanny Flowers. Nanny Flowers is a strong independent woman to loves her husband but tells Pai that his treatment of her is unjust. The women in this culture are meant to obey and respect. Pai is a spitfire. She wants to learn, she wants to play with the boys, and take charge of her own life. This is very different from the expectation of Maori women.

Contrary to popular belief, I believe the movie should have ended by Pai willingly ending her life on the back of the whale in the ocean. Yes, it would have made the film sad with an unhappy ending. I hate to brake it to people but life doesn’t always have a happy ending. I feel that ending the movie in this way would have created a powerful ending that I think all film makers aspire to have. I watched Pai continuously try to be the person that she was born to be. However her best was never good enough. I can relate to her never being able to live up to an expectation that someone else has for your life. I saw Pai try and try and I know what it feels like to feel as though you will always disappoint one of the people in your life you love the most. If someone has never experienced this, they have no idea it feels to give your everything and still not be enough. At the end of the film I realte to Pai immensely. You can see in her eyes the pain and the agony of her heart. She has no will to live. Her spirit has no will to endure the torment any longer. To Pai death was not an end but a release.

A popular movie poster for this film shows Pai with a smile on her face and her arms in the air. I think this is an interesting choice seeming how at this moment in the film happiness is not at all an emotion I see being experienced. Pai wanted to be a leader…she was a leader. And yet, it was not her destiny. History, culture, and tradition can be wonderful and honorable things but yet they can also be ugly and deadly. Peace be with you Paikea.