Aug. 10, 2005 - 4:05 pm
this movie had a lot of buzz a couple of years ago, mostly surrounding the movie's young star, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in the 2004 awards. i never got around to actually watching it until now.
the movie is about the granddaughter of a New Zealand Maori chief who wants to lead her people back to greatness, but she is constantly being told she is doing the wrong thing because she is a girl and is traditionally not allowed to be a leader. the oldest tale of her people involves an ancestor finding strength while riding on a whale, and it looks like she, Paikea, will one day obviously do the same.
i was always hearing about how surreal the ending of this movie was. "it's good, but the ending is really weird." i don't think the ending is all that weird. it's what you're expecting the entire time. she's going to ride on a whale at some point and then become the leader of the Maori. and that's exactly what happens. it's a pretty good story, but the acting of Keisha Castle-Hughes is definitely what does stand out. i enjoyed this quite a bit, even though it was somewhat predictable.