SMSC Resources

promoting Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural values in schools

Whale Rider

Key Concepts

Fatherhood, Authority, Feminism, Identity, Marine ecology, Truth

Summary

Whale Rider is a fascinating glimpse into the culture of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Grandfather Koro is a harsh, emotionally distant and dogmatic traditionalist who is firmly committed to clinging onto 'the old way.' Koro is obsessed with finding a new leader who will be able to stop the Maori culture disintegrating, taking his own identity and significance with it. Pai, Koro's granddaughter, is immediately disqualified because she is female - despite being the strongest candidate. Koro searches for significance and identity in his tribal past, and Pai is told that the new leader will lead the Maori out of the darkness.

Koro is distraught when he finds out that his son, Porourangi intends to marry his pregnant German girlfriend and settle with her in Europe. Koro had been playing matchmaker but after this revelation he tells his son what he really thinks of him. Porourangi is caught between two worlds and faced with the responsibility of fatherhood. Pai finds herself mysteriously drawn to the whales and their strange noises, and begins to discover that, even though she has grown up immersed in the old way, there are wonderful secrets in its murky depths.

Background

Interestingly, the person playing the central character in Whale Rider, Pai, is a novice actress. Niki Caro found Keisha Castle-Hughes after doing an exhaustive search of schools: 'Keisha's a very urban girl . . . And I really needed this kid to "be" from this place, feel like she came from that ground.'(www.indiewire.com) Not only the cast, but the story of the film also seems to have been drawn directly from Maori culture. The tiny coastal township where most of the filming took place is called Whangara. The legend of Paikea, who travelled to New Zealand on the back of a whale, is commemorated by a carving on the Whitireia Meeting House in Whangara.

Director Niki Caro uses the film as a vehicle to explore whether the traditional view is in need of revision. Whale Rider is Caro's second feature film; the first was Memory & Desire (1997), which won her a New Zealand film award, and was selected for critic's week at the Cannes Film Festival. Caro describes Whale Rider as a 'labour of love.' 'It is her strenuous belief that whether 15 seconds or 90 minutes, a good idea effectively communicated is a beautiful thing!' (www.flyingfish.co.nz). The film has received critical acclaim, winning the People's Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, and receiving a standing ovation at the Sundance Festival in Utah (www.newzealand.com).

When asked why audiences react to Whale Rider Caro says, 'We need to! We're going to hell in a hellcart, she says, referring to the collective 'we' of the human race. What I'm learning with this film as I take it around the world is that audiences are craving. This: We need to connect emotionally; we need to believe in something, feel hopeful about something beyond organised wisdom or religion. The organisation of faith has failed us. In this increasingly technological world we are encouraged to be individualistic and self serving.' (au.movies.yahoo.com)

Whale Rider has been described by some people as 'deeply moving' and then by others as 'bleakly depressing.' It consolidates the popular idea that we shouldn't look to the past for answers with the idea that we must work together now with what we have. This obviously means that if someone in the historical past has something important to say, then we are probably going to miss it, or him (John 14:6-7). Whale Rider is a slick, non-offensive, politically correct film, a salesman who oozes cliché after cliché.

Questions

1. Why does Koro think that he needs to be secure/happy/fulfilled?
2. What do you think the director, Niki Caro, is trying to communicate by the hard and emotionally distant character of Koro? What does he represent? In what ways does he change - if at all?
3. How did you feel when Koro told Pai to sit somewhere else at the school opening ceremony, and that she may not attend?
4. What kind of a relationship with nature does Caro describe through Whale Rider? Do you think that the whale was somehow aware of who Pai was? Would the whale have reacted in the same way with anyone?
5. When Koro is in a training session with the boys he talks about the spirit of their ancestors watching them. What does he mean? In what ways is that significant to Koro's own identity?
6. In what ways is Koro a good model for fatherhood? How would you handle it if your son seemed to be uninterested by the things that concern you? Would it be right for a father to force a son to love the same things that the father does?
7. Pai is told that Koro had believed at one point in the past that he was the prophet who would lead the Maori out of the darkness. Have you ever been stuck in the dark without a torch? What happened? Now read John 3:16-21 and discuss what you would say to Pai if you met her.
8. C S Lewis once wrote that as you don't tell the time using an argument, so you shouldn't try to use time to tell if an argument is true or false. What really matters is not how long the belief has been around for, but what the facts really are. Niki Caro uses Whale Rider to question whether in the light of modern thinking and understanding we should be willing to revise the old way. What are the key facts that the Christian faith is built upon?
9. The Maori feel that they need redemption, the problem is that the real answer doesn't come in the form of a Maori prophet, male or female. What would you say to someone who told you that Jesus was just a very wise teacher? Do you think that Jesus is God? What would be a good way to open a dialogue with someone who viewed Jesus as a prophet? (Matthew 26:59-68)
10. As if it has been written into the mind of humanity, the mythical imagination of the Maori culture vocalises God's rescue plan. How does Jesus offer hope to people who admit that they need rescuing?
11. In thinking that we have it all sussed out already, we can miss important things. When should we be happy to chuck the old way? What or who chooses what we keep and what we don't?

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