Whale Rider (2003)
Directed by Niki Caro
A contemporary story of love, rejection, and triumph as a young Māori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
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What critics compared Whale Rider to
Norwegian director Joachim Trier makes his first American film with Louder than Bombs, but shows off the same morose affectations as in his previous work, Reprise and Oslo, August 31st (a not bad but still lesser update of Louis Malle’s The Fire Within).
It resembles John Sayles' brilliant The Secret of Roan Inish not only in subject, but also in the understanding that film has the potential to be the most cogent extrapolation of the oral storytelling tradition.
It's amazing, but films on the opposite end of the spectrum are still being made, films like Babe and Babe: Pig in the City, Fly Away Home, Holes, The Secret of Roan Inish and The White Balloon.
Make no mistake: Whale Rider is essentially The Karate Kid Down Under.
As Koro teaches the local, giggling boys the warrior ways with a fighting stick (calling to mind Pat Morita in "The Karate Kid"), Pai peeks in through the window and follows along.
Director Niki Caro ("Whale Rider") masterfully guides a huge international, primarily Asian, cast through this grand saga.
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In that sense, Lion may be this year’s Whale Rider , where your own sniffling will be masked by that of those around you.
Curtis ( Whale Rider ), Mandvi ( The Mystic Masseur ), and Patel ( Slumdog Millionaire ) seem like actors in a Shakespearean tragedy here.