In this beautiful film about family and the rich culture of the Maori tribe in New Zealand, Paikea is a twelve-year-old girl who struggles to earn his grandfather's acknowledgement and to prove herself worthy to be the new chief of the tribe. Unfortunately, due to the traditional custom of the tribe, only the first-born males in the family are able to take this role. Through this film, several meaningful themes can be seen:
#1 Sexism
The theme sexism can be clearly seen even at the start of the film, that is when Paikea was born. At birth, Paikea's twin brother died, bringing their mother with him. This left Paikea's father devastated at the loss of his wife. However, when Koro, Paikea's grandfather first arrived at the hospital, he did not look or even asked anything about his deceased daughter-in-law. Instead, all he was interested about was the news of his grandson. When Koro found out that only the baby girl survived, he was not very happy about it. This is because he had been waiting so long for the arrival of a new first-born MALE in the family - someone who could finally take up the role of the new chief of the tribe.
Unfortunately, Paikea being a girl could not help him realize his wish.
To even begin with, Koro did not even allow Paikea's father, Porourangi to name his daughter 'Paikea' in the first place! This was because Paikea was the name of the whale rider who rode on top of the whale all the way from Hawaiki (AKA their descendant). So Koro thought that since the baby was a girl, she was not worthy of the name of their descendant.
Koro also had a very strong principle in gender roles, as well as gender stereotypes. Due to the fact that he still resented the fact that his first-born grandchild was a girl, was Paikea, he started blaming her for all the conflicts that happened in the tribe. There was a scene in the film where he said, "When she was born, everything went wrong for us." In order to fix this, Koro started a cultural school for ONLY BOYS to teach them their traditional customs and qualities of a chief. Throughout the entire film, Paikea could be seen as a born talented person with natural qualities of a chief! However, just because she was a girl, Koro chose to ignore her qualities and had discouraged her many times. For example, Paikea was really interested in learning the taiaha and she was really good at it too, but just because it was traditionally reserved for boys only, Koro got really angry at Paikea for learning it by herself secretly and he even chased her out of the house. Not only that, Koro even discouraged Paikea by telling her that her acts of showing off would do no benefits but only to degrade the boys. For a girl as talented as Paikea, by right more praises should be given to her, especially when she was trying so hard to make him proud. But deep down, Koro knew that he could never praise Paikea because that would make her even want to prove herself and THAT would be against his gender role bias in his culture.
Paikea on the other hand was really trying to break the gender stereotypes. She often challenged herself to do things that Koro or the other boys may think that she could not do. One interesting example was when she raced the school bus with her own bike! All the boys in the bus were yelling at the driver to not let her passed the vehicle and they were asking the driver to go faster than Paikea. However, seeing the boys' reactions towards this challenge, she felt even more proud and she cycled even faster! Another scene that she challenged herself in doing was she tried to dive into the water to retrieve Koro's rei puta - something which the boys failed to do and which made Koro really devastated.
#1 Sexism
The theme sexism can be clearly seen even at the start of the film, that is when Paikea was born. At birth, Paikea's twin brother died, bringing their mother with him. This left Paikea's father devastated at the loss of his wife. However, when Koro, Paikea's grandfather first arrived at the hospital, he did not look or even asked anything about his deceased daughter-in-law. Instead, all he was interested about was the news of his grandson. When Koro found out that only the baby girl survived, he was not very happy about it. This is because he had been waiting so long for the arrival of a new first-born MALE in the family - someone who could finally take up the role of the new chief of the tribe.
Unfortunately, Paikea being a girl could not help him realize his wish.
To even begin with, Koro did not even allow Paikea's father, Porourangi to name his daughter 'Paikea' in the first place! This was because Paikea was the name of the whale rider who rode on top of the whale all the way from Hawaiki (AKA their descendant). So Koro thought that since the baby was a girl, she was not worthy of the name of their descendant.
Koro also had a very strong principle in gender roles, as well as gender stereotypes. Due to the fact that he still resented the fact that his first-born grandchild was a girl, was Paikea, he started blaming her for all the conflicts that happened in the tribe. There was a scene in the film where he said, "When she was born, everything went wrong for us." In order to fix this, Koro started a cultural school for ONLY BOYS to teach them their traditional customs and qualities of a chief. Throughout the entire film, Paikea could be seen as a born talented person with natural qualities of a chief! However, just because she was a girl, Koro chose to ignore her qualities and had discouraged her many times. For example, Paikea was really interested in learning the taiaha and she was really good at it too, but just because it was traditionally reserved for boys only, Koro got really angry at Paikea for learning it by herself secretly and he even chased her out of the house. Not only that, Koro even discouraged Paikea by telling her that her acts of showing off would do no benefits but only to degrade the boys. For a girl as talented as Paikea, by right more praises should be given to her, especially when she was trying so hard to make him proud. But deep down, Koro knew that he could never praise Paikea because that would make her even want to prove herself and THAT would be against his gender role bias in his culture.
Paikea on the other hand was really trying to break the gender stereotypes. She often challenged herself to do things that Koro or the other boys may think that she could not do. One interesting example was when she raced the school bus with her own bike! All the boys in the bus were yelling at the driver to not let her passed the vehicle and they were asking the driver to go faster than Paikea. However, seeing the boys' reactions towards this challenge, she felt even more proud and she cycled even faster! Another scene that she challenged herself in doing was she tried to dive into the water to retrieve Koro's rei puta - something which the boys failed to do and which made Koro really devastated.
#2 Importance of Family Root
Through the film we could also see the admirable trait of the Maori people who valued their family roots and protected their traditions, especially Paikea and Koro. Even though some of us may not be able to agree with Koro's stubbornness and his gender stereotypes, we should all be able to understand that whatever that he was doing, he did it to protect their customs. It was undeniable that he chose the customs over his own granddaughter which resulted in mistreating her. But to come to think of it, he was just trying to follow and to keep the traditions that had been practiced for years (which happened to discriminate the females). But the fact that he chose the customs over the love for Paikea clearly showed that Koro was a man who valued customs, traditions and family roots very much.
Even though Paikea was discouraged in her belief that she could be the chief of the tribe since the day she was born, she held onto her traditions and family roots very much. Unlike her father who refused to assume the role of the chief of the tribe, she enjoyed learning about their traditional dances, chants, martial arts and even their tribe's history. Whenever she introduced herself, she would always mentioned that she was a direct patrilineal descendant of Paikea.
#3 Love for Family
Even though Paikea was discouraged in her belief that she could be the chief of the tribe since the day she was born, she held onto her traditions and family roots very much. Unlike her father who refused to assume the role of the chief of the tribe, she enjoyed learning about their traditional dances, chants, martial arts and even their tribe's history. Whenever she introduced herself, she would always mentioned that she was a direct patrilineal descendant of Paikea.
#3 Love for Family
One of the things that touched me the most in this film was the transition of the birth scene to the scene where Paikea had already grown up. During the end of the birth scene, we could see that Koro did not really like Paikea because she was born as a female. The narration by Paikea herself in the beginning of this film had also mentioned something about it which led us to expect Koro to not wanting to admit Paikea as his granddaughter. However, the following scene after that had really touched me. Not only that Koro accepted Paikea into the family, the scene where they rode on the bicycle together had shown that Koro really cared and loved Paikea as his granddaughter, and they have formed an affectionate bond with each other. If I were to vote the best scene throughout the entire film, I would definitely vote this scene as my favourite!
In the following scene where the two main characters had spent some time together talking about the history of their tribe, Koro was teaching Paikea about the importance of the unity of their families and tribe. Later in the same scene, Paikea managed to help Koro to fix his boat engine (using her brilliant mind). When she was happily showing Koro that she had successfully fixed it, Koro was not very happy. Koro did explain in the film the reason why he was unhappy with what Paikea had done, which was the fact that he was afraid that she would hurt herself. Yes, this showed how much Koro cared for her.
PS: However, I figured there should be another hidden reason behind this. As much as Koro was worried that she would hurt herself by fixing that engine, he also did not want Paikea to be too capable and intelligent. Why? Simple. He did not want to believe that she was destined to inherit the leadership.
PS: However, I figured there should be another hidden reason behind this. As much as Koro was worried that she would hurt herself by fixing that engine, he also did not want Paikea to be too capable and intelligent. Why? Simple. He did not want to believe that she was destined to inherit the leadership.
There was another scene in the film which I found heart-breaking - the part where Paikea decided to leave the village and to follow her father back to Germany. Before Paikea left, she asked to have a ride on the bicycle with Koro in the front yard for the last time. This was something that she had been doing with Koro every day and it was upsetting to watch Koro carried her for the last time on his bicycle. But as soon as she was leaving, Koro did not even look at her for the last time and he went straight into the house. Before anyone could thought that he was being mean and cold-hearted, he was seen staring at his beloved granddaughter from the window. This scene actually reminded me of my own grandfather who never looked at us when we were leaving every time after our visit. I wonder if he was like Koro too, staring out at us from where we could not see him. Unfortunately I will never have the chance to check him out the next time we visit because he had already left us.
Paikea's bond with Koro was incredibly touching in this film, honestly. Even though Koro was so hard on her, Paikea was always patient and she tried to be understanding towards him. She never gave up trying to prove herself to Koro and her love for her grandfather was always there no matter what. When Koro was devastated over the loss of the rei puta, he wanted to call out to his ancestors but he failed. Paikea then called out to their ancestors in attempt to help Koro even though she knew this would probably get her into trouble. Lastly when something horrible happened at the beach (probably related to what she had done), she even sacrificed her own life for the sake of her people, especially her grandfather.
Another interesting bond between family members, besides Paikea and Koro, was the father-son relationship between Koro and Porourangi (Paikea's father). Throughout the entire film, there was no obvious affection shown between these two men. However, certain affection or love need not to be shown obviously, but can be seen in other forms. For example, Koro finding a new wife for Porourangi was probably because he wanted another grandson to inherit his leadership. But come to think of it, it has been many years since Paikea's mother had passed. It could be that Koro wanted to find a new companion for his son as well. Nevertheless, even though both of them may not seemed to be talking to each other very much, nothing breaks a bond between a father and son, no matter what. When Porourangi first returned to the village, though Koro did not show, he seemed glad that his son has returned. Similarly, Porourangi also seemed to have a lot of stories about his adventures to share with his father but he was kind of reluctant to talk as well. I wonder why... probably this has something to do with their man egos, or perhaps it is the matter of gender difference where men are usually uncomfortable to talk about feelings and emotions (unlike women). Hence, it would be most appropriate for them to show their love for each other though the things they do.
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