By Laura BennettTuesday 18 Oct 2022Hope AfternoonsMoviesReading Time: 2 minutes
On October 15, 2007 New Zealand police invoked antiterrorism powers to launch an armed raid on a remote Tūhoe community in New Zealand’s Ruatoki region.
The events mirrored a similar raid that took place 100 years earlier, prompting discussions about police power, racism and the way media can control cultural narratives.
In his new movie Muru, filmmaker Tearepa Kahi takes viewers back to that day, exploring the themes of justice and loyalty, and the difficulties of defining who’s good and bad when all the players have people they answer to.
Source: Muri Facebook / Anei a Cliff Curtis, a.k.a, Police Sgt ‘Taffy’ Tawharau, mā runga hoiho.
Tame Iti stars as himself in Muru. Opening across Aotearoa in cinemas September 1st.
For viewers outside New Zealand, the reality of what took place in the North Island hills may be unfamiliar, but it’s hard to understate the global relevance of Muru.
Selected as New Zealand’s official submission for the 2023 Academy Awards Best International Feature Film category, the film masterfully balances the tension between the ancient peoples and tradition modern society has displaced, and the present ideas their existence rubs up against.
Police Sergeant “Taffy” Tāwharau (Cliff Curtis) has an inherent allegiance to his community, but when he witnesses a young Tūhoe man supposedly getting on the wrong side of the law, he has to decide whether to honour the demands of his badge or fight to defend a boy whose perspective he’s personally connected to.
It’s these conflicts of conscience that give Muru strength beyond the raw action of its storyline, speaking to the challenges we all face when trying to truth amid the many voices that contribute to our view of race, unity and what values society should defend.
In this interview, Tearepa and activist Tāme Iti talk about the influence of the raids on modern day culture and what the movie teaches us about honouring our cultural heritage.
Muru is in select cinemas now.
Muru is the winner of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards Cultural Diversity Award under the patronage of UNESCO at the 15th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. This is the first film from NZ to be honoured with this award which will be formally presented at the APSA Ceremony on November 11.
Listen to the full interview in the player above or video below.