Paikea is a girl who, in the eyes of her grandfather, shouldn't have been born. Paikea was born into a patriarchal Maori tribe, of which her grandfather, and his grandfather before him, and his before him, etc. is chief. The story behind her culture is that they all came to where they're living now because one of their ancestors, a man named Paikea, rode on the back of a whale, and they really cherish whales because of this. The problem is that the blood of the community is growing weak, and not many people are choosing to follow the old ways. Paikea's father chose to leave the country instead of take his place as next in line, and her grandfather was hoping that his firstborn grandson would take his place and lead the people. Paikea was born along with a twin brother, but the boy didn't survive. Paikea's father left soon after her birth, and she was raised by her grandmother and grandfather.
One day, her grandfather decides to open a school for all of the young boys in the village, to teach them the old ways, and to choose one of them to be the new chief. Paikea tries to join in, but her grandfather gets angry and kicks her out of the school. She is of course upset by this and gets her uncle (her grandfather's second born, also not good enough for her grandfather) to teach her the traditional fighting style. To pick one of the boys to follow in his footsteps, her grandfather throws a whale tooth to the bottom of the reef and says that the one who can retrieve it will be chosen. Of course none of them can do it. And of course Paikea asks her uncle to take her there and successfully retrieves it. That night at her school she says a speech in her grandfather's honour, but he doesn't make it to the event because for some reason all of the whales have beached themselves. The whole community comes down to the beach to try to save the whales, but nothing seems to be able to fix this situation. Will Pai be able to do anything!?
This is kind of a slow-moving film, but I really love it. It's a story about inner strength, about fighting adversity, and most importantly, about valuing tradition and your heritage and fighting to keep it alive, even when doing so seems impossible or useless. Everything in Pai's life seems to be working against her, or falling apart. She comes from a tradition that seems to be losing it's place, where her place as a woman makes her voice a little bit harder to hear, and yet she's the only one with the power to speak. She's also from a broken family. She rarely ever sees her father who lives in another country, her mother died during childbirth, and her grandfather resents her existence because of her gender. But despite the fact that so many things in her life are 'broken', Pai keeps trying to fix them. A great scene symbolizing this is when her grandfather is trying to start a motor with a piece of rope and he explains that their ancestral line is like the rope, many small strands woven together to become something stronger. He then snaps the rope trying to start the motor and angrily goes off to find a better one. Pai picks up the rope and fixes it, ad then uses it to start the motor and her grandfather comes back and scolds her. She's able to gather people, and lead them, but because she's a girl, her value is overlooked and belittled. And what's so inspiring about the movie is that she barrels forward despite all of that.
I'm kind of a sucker for tradition and culture, and keeping your own alive in a modern world that does not immediately make room for older modes of thought and being, so this film always strikes a chord with me. I often feel the richness and beauty of my own family's culture and traditions fading slowly away with every generation, and movies like this one give me a confidence boost when I'm feeling like I'm the only one who wants to treasure that heritage. And it gives me confidence that I can adapt that older way to fit the new world I'm living in now.
Even if you're not female, and you're not very traditional, this is still a good movie about finding yourself and standing up for your beliefs or standing up to outdated thoughts or closed-minded adversaries. A definite watch.
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