Crooked Earth (2001)

Actors: Temuera Morrison (actor), Sam Pillsbury (director), Wynter Blathwayt (miscellaneous crew), Chris Plummer (editor), Gavin Strawhan (writer), George Henare (actor), Damian Molloy (miscellaneous crew), Lawrence Makoare (actor), Michael Brindley (writer), Sydney Jackson (actor), Linda Fenwick (miscellaneous crew), Ross Duncan (actor), Nancy Brunning (actress), Gavin McLean (costume designer), Robin Scholes (producer),

Plot: Will Bastion returns home from the army after an absence of 20 years to bury his father, the former chief of thee Maori tribe, Ngati Kaipuku. The eldest son, he is reluctant to inherit his fathers role, so it is taken more willingly by his younger brother, Kahu. Kahu is the leader of a band of drug dealers and trouble-makers who ride horses through the middle of town, wrecking peoples gardens. Under the guise of refusal of a land settlement, Kahu makes a large marijuana deal with some murdering city folk. Will must choose between loyalty for his brother and his father, Maori tradition, and contemporary financial issues.

Keywords: independent-film
Genres: Drama,

Greenstone (1999)

Actors: Andy Anderson (actor), Richard Coyle (actor), Bruce Hopkins (actor), Matthew Rhys (actor), Elizabeth Hawthorne (actress), Noel Trevarthen (actor), Simone Kessell (actress), Timothy Balme (actor), George Henare (actor), Pete Smith (actor), Jim Goddard (director), Don Selwyn (producer), John Laing (director), Norman Forsey (actor), Chris Bailey (director),

Plot: Greenstone is an 8-part miniseries set in the beautiful South Pacific. It's a majestic tale of drama, love, mystery and the clashing of cultures. From a native perspective, it focuses on a beautiful Maori princess and her desire for prosperity in an ever-changing world. The country is New Zealand, it's the early 1800's. English colonies were settling in the South Pacific. Trade routes were being set up and the South Seas were being charted. Australia had been firmly established and they were making their mark. But to the British Colony, the jewel in the crown was New Zealand. In their eyes, it was a new frontier full of unlimited riches. "Greenstone" follows the story of Marama and her love for an English Lord who abandons her for the sake of his status as she leaves to return to New Zealand with her father. Her struggles for self follow her country struggles for it's own identity. Marama had been promised at birth to another chief, but falls in love with Sir Geoffrey. She tells her betrothed that she will be with him, but that her heart belongs to someone else. He rejects her. As allegiances change, her father, Chief Te Manahau, betroths her to Sam Markham, a pakeha (white) gun seller, in hopes of securing the allegiance of Sam and keep him from supplying guns to Manahau's enemies. This is the story of their lives as the struggle between Maori and pakeha plays out in New Zealand's lush landscape.

Genres: Drama,

The Piano (1993)

Actors: Jane Campion (writer), Ante Novakovic (miscellaneous crew), Carla Meyer (miscellaneous crew), Jane Campion (director), Holly Hunter (miscellaneous crew), Kenneth McGregor (miscellaneous crew), Holly Hunter (actress), Michael Nyman (composer), Cliff Curtis (actor), Anna Paquin (actress), Ian Mune (actor), Harvey Keitel (actor), Sam Neill (actor), Temuera Morrison (miscellaneous crew), Jon Sperry (actor),

Plot: It is the mid-nineteenth century. Ada is a mute who has a young daughter, Flora. In an arranged marriage she leaves her native Scotland accompanied by her daughter and her beloved piano. Life in the rugged forests of New Zealand's South Island is not all she may have imagined and nor is her relationship with her new husband Stewart. She suffers torment and loss when Stewart sells her piano to a neighbour, George. Ada learns from George that she may earn back her piano by giving him piano lessons, but only with certain other conditions attached. At first Ada despises George but slowly their relationship is transformed and this propels them into a dire situation.

Keywords: 1850s, 19th-century, adultery, animated-sequence, anus, arranged-marriage, attempted-rape, axe, bare-breasts, bare-butt
Genres: Drama, Romance,

Quotes:

Flora: One day when my mother and father were singing together in the forest, a great storm blew up out of nowhere. But so passionate was their singing that they did not notice, nor did they stop as the rain began to fall, and when their voices rose for the final bars of the duet a great bolt of lighting came out of the sky and struck my father so that he lit up like a torch. And at the same moment my father was struck dead my mother was struck dumb! She never spoke another word.

Ada: I have told you the story of your father many many times.::Flora: Oh, tell me again! Was he a teacher?::Ada: Yes.::Flora: How did you speak to him?::Ada: I didn't need to speak. I could lay thoughts out in his mind like they were a sheet.::Flora: Why didn't you get married?::Ada: He became frightened and stopped listening.

[first lines]::Ada: The voice you hear is not my speaking voice - -but my mind's voice. I have not spoken since I was six years old. No one knows why - -not even me. My father says it is a dark talent, and the day I take it into my head to stop breathing will be my last. Today he married me to a man I have not yet met. Soon my daughter and I shall join him in his own country. My husband writes that my muteness does not bother him - and hark this! He says, "God loves dumb creatures, so why not I?" 'Twere good he had God's patience, for silence affects everyone in the end. The strange thing is, I don't think myself silent. That is because of my piano. I shall miss it on the journey.

Flora: Actually, to tell you the whole truth, Mother says that most people speak rubbish, and it's not worth it to listen.::Aunt Morag: Well, that is a strong opinion.::Flora: Aye. It's unholy.

Flora: I know why Mr. Baines can't play the piano. She never gives him a turn. She just plays whatever she pleases and sometimes she doesn't play at all.::Stewart: And when is the next lesson?::Flora: Tomorrow.

Ada: What a death! What a chance! What a surprise! My will has chosen life! Still it has had me spooked and many others besides!

Ada: George has fashioned me a metal finger tip, I am quite the town freak which satisfies!

Ada: At night! I think of my piano in its ocean grave, and sometimes of myself floating above it. Down there everything is so still and silent that it lulls me to sleep. It is a weird lullaby and so it is; it is mine.

[last lines]::Ada: There is a silence where hath been no sound / There is a silence where no sound may be / In the cold grave, under the deep deep sea. -Thomas Hood...

Flora: [speaking to Aunt Morag] My mother met my father when she was an opera singer in Luxembourg.::Ada: [signing] That's enough.::Flora: Why? [pos]

The Silent One (1985)

Actors: David P. Levin (miscellaneous crew), Andy Wickens (miscellaneous crew), Ian Mune (writer), Dave Gibson (producer), Jamie Selkirk (editor), George Henare (actor), Pat Evison (actress), Yvonne Mackay (director), Bernard Kearns (actor), Mabel Wharekawa (actress), Anzac Wallace (actor), Joy Cowley (writer), Prince Tui Teka (actor), Reg Ruka (actor), Jenny McLeod (composer),

Plot: This is a story of a South Seas island village. The villagers find a baby that had been set adrift. The villagers are warned of the dangers of keeping the child. The young boy is ridiculed by many of the villagers because he can not talk, but he can communicate with the sea turtles. Based on the Joy Cowley novel.

Keywords: adrift, baby, based-on-novel, foundling, independent-film, island, little-boy, number-in-title, south-seas, swimming
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family,

The Hurricane (1937)

Actors: Samuel Goldwyn (producer), Jerome Cowan (actor), Inez Courtney (actress), William B. Davidson (actor), Spencer Charters (actor), Dorothy Lamour (actress), John Carradine (actor), Al Kikume (actor), Chris-Pin Martin (actor), Raymond Massey (actor), Thomas Mitchell (actor), C. Aubrey Smith (actor), Jon Hall (actor), Mary Astor (actress), Ben Hecht (writer),

Plot: In the Island of Manukura, a French colony in the South Seas, the joyful Terangi is a leader among the natives and the first mate of the Katopua, the tall ship of Captain Nagle. Terangi gets married with Marama and sooner he sails to Tahiti. While in a bar playing with other natives, Terangi is offended by an alcoholic racist French and he hits his face, breaking his jaw. Despite the testimony of Captain Nagle, Terangi is sentenced to six months of forced labor since the victim had political connections with the Powers That Be. Captain Nagle asks the Governor Eugene DeLaage to uses his influence to help Terangi, but the governor refuses. Terangi unsuccessfully tries to escape from the prison, and each attempt increases his sentence. Eight years later, he finally escapes and his jailbreak is celebrated in Manukura. Father Paul finds his canoe and brings Terangi to the island. But a devastating hurricane also arrives in the island threatening the dwellers.

Keywords: accidental-death, adrift, alcoholic-doctor, attempted-escape, bar-fight, bare-chested-male, based-on-novel, bell, body-surf, camera
Genres: Action, Drama, Romance,
Taglines: South Sea Adventure Calls Through miles of raging ocean he defied man's law!

Quotes:

Madame Germaine De Laage: [storm is relentlessly pounding the church, people inside hear the sea gaining on the church]::Madame Germaine De Laage: Father, will the sea rise and cover the island?::Father Paul: We're on the highest part here, my daughter. Even if the sea reaches us, the walls will keep it out.

Abusive Drunk: [to terangi's friends] "Get up! Get up I said! [2 people flee the table, Terangi does not move]::Abusive Drunk: [to Terangi] "Clear out! Get up when a white man tells ya! [he hits Terangi, Terangi hits him back, braking his jaw]

Abusive Drunk: [to Terangi's friends] "Get up! Get up I said! [2 people flee the table, Terangi does not move]::Abusive Drunk: [to Terangi] "Clear out! Get up when a white man tells ya! [he hits Terangi, Terangi hits him back, breaking his jaw]

Terangi: [from the tree, Terangi sees two columns collapse on the west wall of the church] The church! It's going!::Terangi: [after fighting the pounding seas to get inside the church] Father Paul, come! The sea is breaking in, the walls are going, Look! [points to the altar, where the wind starts tearing up the corrugated iron roof]::Father Paul: Take those who want to go. I am staying here!::Terangi: You will drown, Father Paul! You saved me. Take my arm and let me save you!::Father Paul: No, my son, Take Madame.::Madame Germaine De Laage: No! I'll stay with you Father Paul::Father Paul: Take her! Take her back safe to the world that will drown you, Terangi. [storm shatters the gothic window on the west wall, more water and wind blow into the church] Please Madame, Go. Terangi, Take her::Terangi: Yes, Father.::Father Paul: Those of you who wish to go, go now! Those who wish to sing with me, for the last time, stay.

Terangi: [from the tree, Terangi sees two colums collapse on the west wall of the church] The church! It's going!::Terangi: [after fighting the pounding seas to get inside the church] Father Paul, come! The sea is breaking in, the walls are going, Look! [points to the altar, where the wind starts tearing up the corrugated iron roof]::Father Paul: Take those who want to go. I am staying here!::Terangi: You will drown, Father Paul! You saved me. Take my arm and let me save you!::Father Paul: No, my son, Take Madame.::Madame Germaine De Laage: No! I'll stay with you Father Paul::Father Paul: Take her! Take her back safe to the world that will drown you, Terangi. [storm shatters the gothic window on the west wall, more water and wind blow into the church] Please Madame, Go. Terangi, Take her::Terangi: Yes, Father.::Father Paul: Those of you who wish to go, go now! Those who wish to sing with me, for the last time, stay.

DeLaage: My dear doctor, I'm ready to give my wife and my friends anything I own in the world except my sense of honor and duty.::Dr. Kersaint: A sense of honor in the South Seas is about as useful and often as silly as a silk hat in a hurricane.

Dr. Kersaint: You know, I play a kind of chess game with the oldest gambler in the world, Mehevi. He takes Mama Rua, and I checkmate him with a baby. [laughs] I'll think I'll have another drop of cognac just to keep the wind out of my bones on the way home.

DeLaage: You helped Terangi? My own priest?::Father Paul: I'm his priest too!::DeLaage: You helped a murderer!::Father Paul: I aided a man whose heart is innocent.::DeLaage: You've given aid to anarchy and bloodshed!::Father Paul: I'll answer for it.

Dr. Kersaint: [Hearing an ominous wind] The Devil's abroad tonight.

Father Paul: [as Terangi tries to kiss his hand] No, no, you owe me no thanks, my son. This is between me and somebody else. [a heavenly chorus is heard]