Once Were Warriors

A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

Cast

Rena Owen

as Beth Heke

Temuera Morrison

as Jake Heke

Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell

as Grace Heke

Julian Arahanga

as Nig Heke

Taungaroa Emile

as Mark 'Boogie' Heke

Rachael Morris Jr.

as Polly Heke

Joseph Kairau

as Huata Heke

Cliff Curtis

as Bully

Pete Smith

as Dooley

George Henare

as Bennett

Reviews

Filipe Manuel Neto

**The power and importance of cultural roots.** This was the first New Zealand film I saw, at least as far as I remember and am aware of that. It's a violent film, with a raw brutality that shocks us by how authentic it sounds. Domestic violence? Child rape? It's not something you only see in the...

Similar Movies

The Long Goodbye

In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

⭐ 7.4

Take The Bridge

Take The Bridge is a 2007 independent film from Sergio M. Castilla about four young adults who all try to commit suicide on the same day and how they meet up and become friends. The film Premiering at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.

⭐ 10.0

Children of a Lesser God

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

⭐ 6.9

Inherit the Wind

Schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching his students Darwin's theory of evolution. The case receives national attention and one of the newspaper reporters, E.K. Hornbeck, arranges to bring in renowned defense attorney and atheist Henry Drummond to defend Cates. The prosecutor, Matthew Brady is a former presidential candidate, famous evangelist, and old adversary of Drummond.

⭐ 7.7

Reclaim Your Brain

Frustrated, because he is forced to produce bad TV-shows, a manager of a TV-station, enters the station and manipulates the ratings, to initiate a TV-revolution.

⭐ 6.7

Or (My Treasure)

Or shoulders a lot: she's 17 or 18, a student, works evenings at a restaurant, recycles cans and bottles for cash, and tries to keep her mother Ruthie from returning to streetwalking in Tel Aviv. Ruthie calls Or "my treasure," but Ruthie is a burden. She's just out of hospital, weak, and Or has found her a job as a house cleaner. The call of the quick money on the street is tough for Ruthie to ignore. Or's emotions roil further when the mother of the youth she's in love with comes to the flat to warn her off. With love fading and Ruthie perhaps beyond help, Or's choices narrow.

⭐ 6.8

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me

In the questionable town of Deer Meadow, Washington, FBI Agent Desmond inexplicably disappears while hunting for the man who murdered a teen girl. The killer is never apprehended, and, after experiencing dark visions and supernatural encounters, Agent Dale Cooper chillingly predicts that the culprit will claim another life. Meanwhile, in the more cozy town of Twin Peaks, hedonistic beauty Laura Palmer hangs with lowlifes and seems destined for a grisly fate.

⭐ 7.4

Agnes and His Brothers

Focuses on three very different siblings, all searching for happiness. Hans-Jörg is a sex addicted librarian, who is interested in young students. Werner is a successful politician with a dysfunctional family. Agnes, a trans woman, works as a table dancer in a night club. The three brothers just have one thing in common: their longing for a happy life.

⭐ 6.0

Stomp the Yard

After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition.

⭐ 7.1

Nell

In a remote woodland cabin, a small town doctor discovers Nell — a beautiful young hermit woman with many secrets.

⭐ 6.6

An Unfinished Life

Stoic and heartbroken, Einar Gilkyson quietly lives in the rugged Wyoming ranchlands alongside his only trusted friend, Mitch Bradley. One day, the woman he blames for the death of his only son arrives at his door broke, desperate and with a granddaughter he's never known. But even as buried anger and accusations resurface, the way is opened for unexpected connection, adventure and forgiveness.

⭐ 6.8

Nowhere Land

Dean sees mafia boss Santelli whack an FBI infiltrator and is relocated to a remote cabin in the Sierras for protection. While Santelli's crew tries to locate him, Dean gets company from the beautiful Monica.

⭐ 3.3

Selvmordsskolen

Bizarre satiric tale about an ordinary Danish man disappointed in life and the welfare system. Close to a total collapse he decides to take the easy way out. He seeks help at Doctor X, head of a suicide school that guarantees 100% efficiency.

⭐ 8.0

The Bourne Supremacy

A CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent, who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne and Marie have been living. The pair run for their lives and Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive.

⭐ 7.3

The Bourne Ultimatum

Bourne is brought out of hiding once again by reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar, an upgrade to Project Treadstone, in a series of newspaper columns. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally uncover his dark past while dodging The Company's best efforts to eradicate him.

⭐ 7.4

Our Mother's House

Seven children bury their mother and hide her death - until their long-lost father returns.

⭐ 7.1

Nobody Knows

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

⭐ 8.0