Pete Smith Movies

When a small boy is mythically delivered to a remote Polynesian island and named Tama, he's received with equal amounts of joy and fear -- the former from the island tribe's chief, the latter from the chief's wife, who notes that the new boy is taking favored status away from their own, biological son. Thus, Tama is ostracized and cast away from his beloved adoptive island, but makes it his goal in life to return to reclaim his true childhood love, Mahana. The Legend of Johnny Lingo was brought to the screen in part by producer John Garbett. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

The 1994 drama Once Were Warriors told a sad but compelling tale of violence and alcoholism in New Zealand's Maori community, and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? picks up the story several years later, though the focus is less on an individual family than the spread of gang warfare among the modern-day Maori. Jake and Beth Heke (Temuera Morrison and Rena Owen), the combative couple in the first film, have now split up, Beth having lost her patience with Jake's alcoholism and violent temper. Beth has moved on and lives with her new boyfriend, and while Jake also has a new relationship, his binge drinking and violence have continued unabated. Jake's eldest son, Nig (Julian Arahanga) has fared little better in life, and dies in a fight with a member of a rival gang. At Nig's funeral, Jake is confronted by Beth and his younger son, Sonny (Clint Eruera), who feels Jake abandoned his family and doesn't mind telling him so. Sonny decides he must avenge Nig's death and joins forces with Nig's girlfriend Tania (Nancy Brunning) and his pal Mookie (Tammy Davis) to exact their own kind of justice. However, an unpleasant run-in with the Black Snakes gang only earns them more enemies. Jake, meanwhile, is dropped by his girlfriend and sinks even deeper into the abyss of his demons. What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? was directed by Ian Mune, continuing the story begun by filmmaker Lee Tamahori. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This is a historical melodrama set against the backdrop of Easter Island's mysterious stone monoliths, directed by Kevin Reynolds and produced by his frequent collaborator, Kevin Costner. Jason Scott Lee stars as Noro, a pre-colonial tribesman living on the remote Pacific island that his people call Rapa Nui. A member of the elite "Long Ears" sect, Noro is to represent his clan in an annual ritual, a dangerous race along rocky cliffs and through shark-infested waters to retrieve the first egg from a sacred bird hatchery that lies offshore. Noro, however, is in love with Ramana (Sandrine Holt), a member of the "Short Ears," a slave class that builds the "Moai," which are giant stone carvings dotting the island. The tribal shaman rules that Noro and Ramana may marry if she spends six months in an isolated cave and he wins the contest. Make (Esai Morales), another Short Ear, is a rival for Ramana and leader of unrest in his exploited caste. Make trains to represent the Short Ears against Noro in the race, but judgment in the contest's result is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an iceberg. Interpreted as an omen, the "white canoe of the gods" leads to a civil war. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Jane Campion's third feature unearthed emotional undercurrents and churning intensity in the story of a mute woman's rebellion in the recently colonized New Zealand wilderness of Victorian times. Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), a mute who has willed herself not to speak, and her strong-willed young daughter Flora (Anna Paquin) find themselves in the New Zealand wilderness, with Ada the imported bride of dullard land-grabber Stewart (Sam Neill). Ada immediately takes a dislike to Stewart when he refuses to carry her beloved piano home with them. But Stewart makes a deal with his overseer George Baines (Harvey Keitel) to take the piano off his hands. Attracted to Ada, Baines agrees to return the piano in exchange for a series of piano lessons that become a series of increasingly charged sexual encounters. As pent-up emotions of rage and desire swirl around all three characters, the savage wilderness begins to consume the tiny European enclave. Campion imbues her tale with an over-ripe tactility and a murky, poetic undertow that betray the characters' confined yet overpowering emotions: Ada's buried sensuality, Baines' hidden tenderness, and Stewart's suppressed anger and violence. The story unfolds like a Greek tragedy of the Outback, complete with a Greek chorus of Maori tribesmen and a blithely uncaring natural environment that envelops the characters like an additional player. Campion directs with discreet detachment, observing one character through the glances and squints of another as they peer through wooden slats, airy curtains, and the spaces between a character's fingers. She makes the film immediate and urgent by implicating the audience in characters' gazes. And she guides Hunter to a revelatory performance of silent film majesty. Relying on expressive glances and using body language to convey her soulful depths, Hunter became a modern Lillian Gish and won an Oscar for her performance, as did Paquin and Campion for her screenplay. Campion achieved something rare in contemporary cinema: a poetry of expression told in the form of an off-center melodrama. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A Canadian-Australian co-production, the 20-episode adventure series Gold was set in New Zealand during that country's "gold rush" in the 1860s. The central character was Johnny Rogan (Yannick Bisson), an 18-year-old Canadian who accompanied his older brother to the Land Down Under in hopes of striking it rich. After his brother's death, Johnny pitched camp in the town of Dunstan, entering into a partnership with rogueish prospector Henry Garrick (Andy Anderson) and finding time to squire the local pubkeeper's daughter, Lily Owens (Lucy Bayler). Originally shown on Canadian TV through the auspices of Alliance Atlantis, Gold was later released to video in "feature film" form, with selected half-hour episodes stitched together and rechristened with such titles as Gold: A Fistful of Gold, Gold: The Merchants of Venus, and Gold: The World's a Play. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Angel in Green, an unlikely alliance between a Jesuit missionary and a trained-for-combat Green Beret trooper is formed to help protect the island natives from insurgent-spawned violence. ~ All Movie Guide

In a tour-de-force sci-fi story with only three main characters, Kiwi director Geoffrey Murphy creates an interesting dynamic nuanced with shades of mysticism. When scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) experiments with a radical new power source -- a band of energy that would circle the planet -- the project goes awry and apparently wipes out all living creatures (they vanish without a trace). At first Zac adjusts by indulging himself in some of his materialistic desires, but he soon starts a serious search for other signs of human life. He discovers it in New Zealand in the form of Joanne (Alison Routledge), with whom he falls in love, and Api (Peter Smith), a Maori. The challenges the three face in order to survive, as well as their personal interactions, keep this human drama engrossing. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide