Starring: Rena Owen, Vinnie Bennett, Errol Shand, Miriama McDowell, James Rolleston, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Richard Te Are
Distributor: Transmission Films
Runtime: 112 mins. Reviewed in Nov 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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A dramatic portrait of Maori leader, social and political activist Whina Cooper, who led a significant protest march to Wellington in 1975 for Maori land rights.
A fine film from New Zealand. Audiences there would be well aware of Whina (pronounced Feena, her English name, Josephine) Cooper, a pioneer in promotion of Maori land rights. This is her story and the story of the fight for land rights leading to a protest march of many thousands in 1975 from the top of the North Island to Wellington, to present a statement to Parliament leading to land rights.
The march to Wellington in 1975 occurred eight years after the 1967 referendum on Indigenous citizenship in Australia, but 18 years before the Mabo decisions.
While the focus is on the 80-year-old Whina, leading the march, it also tells her past, in a dramatically powerful way. The bulk of the film is in flashbacks, outlining Whina’s life, her birth and the assumption that she would be a boy, the child of a chief, her strength of character, her life from 18 to 55.
The actresses playing Whina are the best. Veteran Owen (memories of Once Were Warriors and her subsequent New Zealand and international career), brings all her power to the 80-year-old, strong-minded, walking stick because of arthritis, but a look that can challenge, and whose sincerity based on tough experiences.
For the main part of the film, it is the actress McDowell who carries the character of Whina. It is a strong and persuasive performance, making an indelible impression on the audience.
Whina is a strong character, a huge influence on those around her, accepting the mantle of the role of the chief, but never afraid of hard work, out in the fields, out in the mud, digging, planning. She is married to Richard, who puzzles about her assertiveness, the tradition that women should not speak out, but should be obedient to their husbands. While he supports his wife, he is also dying of consumption.
The government has sent land auditors to check on how the Maori were administering their land, but also facing the encroachment by colonial farmers, transforming the land, taking the land from the Maori. One of the auditors is William Cooper (Bennett) who is impressed by Whina, even as she defies him. There is a momentary affair – with consequences.
One of the interesting features of the film is the place of the Catholic Church with the Maori. The focus is on the parish priest of the village, Fr Mulder (Shand), a missionary among the people, but takes strong stances, especially against the devout Whina, denouncing her when she tells the people that she is pregnant and that William is the father. They have to leave and set up home further away. And the years pass.
Whina is a devout Catholic, traditional pictures of the Sacred Heart in the homes, statues of Mary on the piano, her dismay at Fr Mulder’s stands against her, and a wonderful scene when, in old age, she tells people that she had a dream, was in heaven, saw Jesus, told him that it was time she came to join him and her family, and receiving a very stern “No!” from Jesus who tells her she has to keep working on earth.
In 1940, there were celebrations for the Treaty of Waitangi, and some of the elders asked Whina to participate – in charge of the catering. However, one of the elders asks her, wearing her traditional cape, to participate in a ceremony, rousing a great deal of anger among the Maori. Soldiers come in to work with her on the catering and the ceremony is a success.
Eventually, urged on by William, they return home, put their effort into building a special meeting place, where women can speak freely – again raising the ire of the citizens, of Fr Mulder, the burning down of the reconstructed meeting place with its range of artwork and traditional totems.
By this stage of the film we are fully engaged with Whina, sharing her ambitions, dismayed at her treatment – and, after the war, her going to the Auckland suburbs in poverty, joining a Maori league and organising it, and confronting Fr Mulder (now a bishop) about his stances, not welcoming the Maori to the church, his apology.
At the end of the film, there are images of the actual Whina – and the information that she was Dame Whina Cooper with a great number of local and Imperial honours. The film offers a fine opportunity for us to get to know her.
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