Kahutia/Paikea - The Whale Rider
IN THE BEGINNING...
Legend has it that Kahutia-te-Rangi, ancestor of the people of Te Tai Rawhiti
(the place washed by the eastern tide), travelled from Hawaiiki (land of
the Ancients). He escaped certain death on the back of a whale when his canoe
capsized and a whale took him to shore. To commemorate his voyage he was given
a new name - Paikea, and his descendants live at Whangara, on the East Coast of
the North Island of New Zealand, today. Hundreds of years later, the marae at
Whangara still bears Kahutia/Paikea riding on the back of a whale as its tekoteko
(figurehead), on its Ridgepole.
THE BACKGROUND...
In 1986, New Zealand author Witi Ihimaera, living in New York City, saw a whale
stranded up the Hudson River. The sight made him homesick for the area he grew
up in, and made him think of the story of the ancestor of his area. Over a period
of three weeks, he wrote "the Whale Rider" - a story of Kahutia-te-Rangi, a story
of Whangara, of small-town rural New Zealand, a story of the changing and breaking
of years of Maori tradition and teaching. The story of a Maori chief whose eldest
great-grandchild is not the boy he wanted. The story of a girl called Kahutia -
Kahu - who could be the next chief.
Flash forward 14 years... A New Zealand movie begins taking the world by storm.
Taking awards at Sundance, amazing critics at Toronto, stunning audiences at film
festivals everywhere, and nipping at the heels of the highest takings for a New
Zealand movie on its opening weekend, "Whale Rider" (2002) directed by Niki Caro,
(and based on the 1988 book by Witi Ihimaera, who has a co-producer credit), is
billed to be one of the most successful New Zealand films ever.
Critics certainly feel it will outpace The Piano, What becomes of the Broken
Hearted, and Once were Warriors. To someone who has only seen The Piano, and not
the latter two: The Whale Rider is definitely better than The Piano - it is more
powerful.
THE STORY...
Kahutia was a girl who was meant to be a boy. She is the first child of her
generation in the chief's family, and her birth breaks a long line of chiefs,
stretching back to Paikea himself. Further than that, when she was born her
mother died, and her father was not willing to just put things behind him,
marry again, and produce another child (preferably a son) any time soon. In the
movie, this is more tragic, more poignant. The movie is about a girl called
Paikea, and over the opening scene, you hear her words: "There was no gladness
when I was born. My twin brother died, taking our mother with him." This is
the kind of life Kahu/Paikea leads… growing up with the knowledge that she was
meant to be a boy, that she was meant to grow up to be chief of the tribe.
It is important to know here that the place of women in Maori society is much
regulated by tradition. Women may not speak on a marae, they may not set foot
on a waka (traditionally a war canoe), they may not learn to wield the taiaha
(spear). They cannot see a tekoteko panel or a canoe being carved. They cannot
take part in the schooling of future chiefs. It is the women who do the cooking,
who do the karanga(welcome) for visitors to the marae. Women do not wear
trousers on a marae. The women sing the waiata (songs) at the close of each speech,
the men do the haka (war dance). A woman cannot be chief. Paikea/Kahutia challenges
that.
She cannot see why she shouldn't be permitted to learn at the school the elders
(including her great grandfather/grandfather, Koro or Paka) set up for the boys
of her generation. A kura (school) to instruct the youngsters of the tribe in
the way of the ancient ones. And youngsters means males. In the movie Nanny
Flowers (her grandmother/great-grandmother) refuses to let the first lesson start
until Paikea is there. Paikea does the karanga for the manuhiri (visitors) while
Nanny Flowers does the Karanga for the tangatawhenua (hosts). Koro relents and
suggests that Paikea can stay, but only if she sits at the back. She leaves, and
learns the chant by listening through the windows, learns the taiaha from her uncle.
She bests one of the boys at the taiaha, on the marae grounds. Koro is angry,
yells at her for breaking tapu (sacredness). She can do no good as far as he is
concerned: because she is a girl. Were she a boy, she would be the one. But she
isn't. In the book this whole exchange is present, and yet not as obvious.
The final test asked of the boys is one of endurance. Koro takes them out on a
boat on the harbour, and explains how he was taught. The chief took a carved
stone and threw it overboard. Whoever could return it would be the next chief. In
the book, it is a stone, in the movie it is Koro's whaletooth pendant, the symbol
of his chieftainship. All the boys fail to retrieve it and it settles on the ocean
floor. Later Paikea/Kahutia is out in the same spot with her uncle. She dives down,
is gone for ages, and returns with the whaletooth/stone - and a crayfish for Koro.
It is not until much later, at the end of the book/movie that Koro is given the
stone/pendant.
After the boys fail to return with the taonga (treasure = pendant/stone) Koro
withdraws into himself. Paikea/Kahutia is sent away - she has disappointed Koro.
Nevertheless she is still proud of her heritage, her family, and she writes a
speech which she delivers partially in Maori. She leads the Maori Culture Group,
and Koro is her special guest at the end of year concert. The audience is told
that she won the school prize and the district prize for her speech. The power
in this part of the film is awesome. Dressed in the Culture Group 'costume',
holding a small cup, her lips blackened traditionally, unruly hair partially tamed
by a headband, she gives her speech. Dedicated to her Koro, who was not there,
the empty chair in the front row. "I come from a long line of Maori chiefs,
stretching back to Paikea. I broke that line, and it is nobody's fault it was
broken" she says.
Meanwhile, down on the beach, the whales that Kahutia/Paikea called because her
Koro was calling them and they were not answering him, are stranded and dying.
Kahutia/Paikea is not allowed to help, not allowed to watch. They're trying to
protect her. One by one, the whales give up - if they can only get the king
whale out, it will be fine, the others will follow. But it is not to be. "He
wants to die." Koro says. Paikea has other ideas… going down to the beach as
the others leave, she greets the whale with a hongi. She climbs onto his back,
she pats him, she talks to him, and she asks him to move. He moves... when the
people leaving the beach turn around Paikea is not in sight, the big whale is
not in sight, the rest of the whales are not in sight. Nanny Flowers gives Koro
the stone/pendant. He looks at her. "Which one? Which one?" "Do you need to ask
that?" It was Paikea/Kahutia, of course. And she is out at sea on the back of a
whale, and no one thinks to see her back.
Later her body is washed up on the beach. She lives, but is in a coma. In hospital,
Koro waits at her bed, he is ready for her to be his successor. She wakes.
The movie closes with a scene that you have to understand Maori customs to
understand completely. Paikea and Koro are on a waka, a war canoe - the one
Paikea's father Porourangi never finished carving, the one she went to when she
needed to think. She calls the chant for the paddlers to follow, to keep time
to. And the paddlers of that waka? Male and female, together… keeping the community
strong.
The movie had me in tears. This is a simple story, and it is a great story. It
is a powerful movie, and it tells a powerful story. It is small town New Zealand,
the bickering, the triumphs, the trials. It is easy to see how it won the 'Canal
and Audience' award/s at Rotterdam, the "World Cinema Audience Award" at Sundance,
the People's Choice Award at Toronto. Keisha Castle-Hughes IS Paikea, at
eleven she has never acted before, but doubtless she will again. If you like my
telling of the story, please, read the book. Watch the movie when it comes out
(it's due out in the States in June, although it is screening as part of the DC
Environmental Film Festival on March 22nd).
_______________________
Note:
Paikea is the name of the heroine of the movie; she is called Kahutia in the book.
I've used the names in concert most often: when I haven't the name I have used is
an indication of whether I refer to the book or the movie.
Koro is her grandfather in the movie: in the book he is her great-grandfather.
I have made an effort to translate any terms people might find unfamiliar.
_______________________
DC Environmental Film Festival
Whale Rider - the Movie] see also press releases on this site.
Whale Rider - the book
Witi Ihimaera - Biography
Beginning of NZ Herald feature on the movie
http://www.newzealandbooks.com
Gisborne Herald Feature
For any more information, plugging "The Whale Rider" or simply "Whale Rider" into
google will give you plenty of choices.
The book is listed on Amazon.com
(although it says it is not yet available and I assume they are reprinting it) and
bn.com
(also a reprint).
Last updated 22/04/03