Whale Rider (2003)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Great Film overall

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

At first glance, Whale Rider seems to be just another PC flick affirming girls' ability to do or be anything that guys can do or be. The Maori setting gives it an exotic edge that many films in that category often lack; and it also provides a bit of distance from our own society that makes it seem a little less in-your-face than other formulaic battle-of-the-sexes PC stories. The cultural separation also makes it easier to accept the characters' actions and words more plausibly authentic than in other stories in that genre that are set in our own familiar settings whose characters feel more contrived and unnatural. So it is a clear notch above other stories aimed at shattering sexual discrimination. But in the end, it still occupies that formulaic PC niche.

Whale Rider is a really good film, to rate this film, I will give it an eight out of ten. It is very impressive that how Paikea has the courage to conquer the ill whales. Although it is dangerous, Paikea still chooses to save the whales and impress his grandfather. This minority style of life is very unique, it's culture can not be find in any other place in the world. How the chief of the tribe is inheriting is also interesting. From this film, the audience can get the global perspective of how a minority group live in New Zealand. However, the reason why I am giving this movie an eight out of ten is that I feel there is way too much descriptions about how Paikea's grandfather does not like to give the role to her, but too less about how Paikea is solving the problem with those stranding Whales. I feel the director should add more descriptions about how Paikea get the trust from his grandfather and how she becomes the inheritor of the minority group. Anyway, these are all my personal ideas. One of the main themes in this film is gender. This was also a major theme in the United States in the past --- men are more superior than women. This is relevant to this society's culture in the film because the chief of the tribe is usually inherited to male, but the main character Paikea is a female, causes a lot of issues. Paikea is a good evidence to support gender equality.

Whale Rider is a journey through culture, tradition, folklore, love and family.Acting was of such a great standard, it's hard to believe that such a young little actress could take on such a demanding role and have you totally mesmerised by her character.This film doesn't seem to have reached a wide enough audience and feel if it had it would be among many more 'top lists'.

Whale Rider is definitely one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. The movie used very artistic camera angles and the acting was very good. I also thought it was wonderful that the director wanted to show off the Maori traditions and add in a lot of those really cool details you would get from an actual visit to New Zealand. Besides the awesome culture in the film, the movie was very well written and I thought it went into great detail about the story line, plus the characters were very well thought out and developed. Though, I did think that the ending was very dramatic and even a little cheesy. Plus, I thought that it was very odd that the grandfather, just all of the sudden was happy to have a granddaughter instead of a grandson. Though, the story line does kind of justifies it. With that being said, I still think that Whaler Rider is a great movie and I think it deserves a lot more "mainstream" publicity. 9/10 !!!