Anzac Wallace Movies
- 1989
The moderate success of 1987's Ngati (see entry 120359) enabled other filmmakers from New Zealand's Maori population to get their projects off the ground. Mauri deserves mention as the first film ever produced, written and directed by a Maori woman (Merate Mita). The film stars Anzac Wallace, a Maori who has run into nothing but trouble in white society. Picking up a hitchhiker, Wallace inadvertently kills the man in a car accident, then assumes the dead man's identity in order to escape a bank-robbery charge. He confesses his crimes to his dying surrogate mother, but will not explain his guilty behavior to his girlfriend (Susan D. Ramari Paul), who ultimately gives up on him. In the end, Wallace not only loses out on his chance to "assimilate" with the whites, but also loses the love and friendship of his fellow Maoris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anzac Wallace, Eva Rickard, (more)
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
- Starring:
- Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, (more)
- 1984
When a strange child turns up on a beach, he is taken in by Luisa (Pat Evison), one of the local villagers. Given the name Jonasi (Telo Malese), the boy is referred to as "the silent one" by the locals when it is discovered that he seems to be unable to hear or speak. Feared and shunned by the villagers, Jonasi spends his days on the beach, where he mysteriously appeared, playing with an albino sea turtle. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Telo Malese, Pat Evison, (more)
- 1983
Utu is the Maori word for "Retribution," which sums up the chief motivating factor of this New Zealand-produced drama. Set in the 1870s, the film details the exigencies of British Colonial rule. A Maori scout, Te Wheke (Anzac Wallace), stumbles across a native village that has been destroyed in a British raid. Since it is the scout's own village, he deserts the British army, the better to seek "utu." Leading a vigilante force consisting of his fellow Maoris, Te Wheke kills as many British settlers as he can get his hands on. The feverish conviction of his crusade is in stark contrast to the attitudes of the British, who seem more concerned with material possessions than with human beings. Popular down under star Bruno Lawrence is cast as a vengeance-driven settler who makes it his personal mission in life to end Te Wheke's reign of terror. The most expensive New Zealand-filmed project to date, Utu was an enormous success upon its first domestic release; the American version runs some 15 minutes shorter than the original. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anzac Wallace, Bruno Lawrence, (more)
