Whale Rider

The emotions ride very close to the surface in this film, so you can expect to get very weepy watching it. It's nearly like watching melodrama (which usually is too sticky for me), except that it is saved by being rooted in legend. A young girl, born of a line of chiefs of the Maori people of New Zealand, is passed up for training to become the next chief because of her gender. It becomes apparent that she is "the one" (much more clearly than Neo in The Matrix) as she develops what can only be called powers that only she possesses. While the film's overt theme is discrimination, this is not its only feature. In the end, the film is as much about gender as it is about the nearly- forgotten mysticism of the Maori, and their hopes and dreams. Quite a difficult balance to achieve, and it's done beautifully. The girl chosen to play the main character is a marvel. She is able to play stubborn but not petulant, sad but not weepy (except in one very well-done scene), a tomboy but also plainly a girl. Weirdly, she looks like a very young Jennifer Beals (which is distracting for those who remember Flashdance). The scenery is not as extra-special gorgeous as in The Lord of the Rings series. You see how the Maori people live, and it's quite similar to the reservations here in America.

year: 2002
length: 105 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0298228/combined