GamerTab That was an excellent one.

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

SnoopyStyle In urban Auckland, New Zealand, the Heke family is struggling. Jake is unemployed and a violent drunk. He's often drinking with his gang of friends. Beth is a mother with problems of her own. The biggest is that Jake beats on her sometimes. The oldest son Nig joins a Māori gang. The second son Boogie is taken from the family and finds a mentor in foster care under Mr. Bennett. Grace is the sensitive 13 year old daughter who has a homeless friend Toot. The family dysfunctions culminates with Grace's rape by one of Jake's drinking buddies.In more careless hands, this could be a simple Lifetime movie. The violent drunk dad story is not that compelling. This movie shows the mother Beth as more than a victim. It also shows that they truly love each other. The performances are amazing. Jake isn't an one-note character. By tying this to the community's culture, this movie has a sense of power beyond the family.

Eric Barnes When I attended the Telluride Film Festival in 1994, I picked 6 films on opening day as my choices. Once Were Warriors happened to be the first. By the end of the film, I was utterly stunned. I wanted to tell Rena Owen, the female star, how much I appreciated her brilliant work and the film itself, so I joined the line. By the time I got to the front, I couldn't think of a single word to say to her, instead standing there with tears streaming down my face. Rena stepped forward and put her arms around me and just let me cry. After a few moments, I thanked her and walked away, unable to speak any further.I spent the rest of the day wandering around just looking at people. I never saw the other five films. To say that OWW is a stunning film is just words. It's ability to connect with the audience and draw us in was simply magnificent.I rate this film in the top five I've seen all my life.I found it interesting, too, that when I checked Amazon to see if it were still available, the only copies were listed at $130, a real tribute to this brilliant film accomplishment.

gavin6942 A family descended from Maori warriors is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.There is always a story to be told about the natives versus the colonialists. Americans can tell the story of the Native Americans (or Indians), Australians have the aborigines, and as we see here the New Zealanders have the Maori people. This is a story that can be told in either an archetypal way or more specifically. (This film does a bit of both.) But we also have internal conflict. This is not just us versus them, but also us versus us. And then you have an even worse situation. When the minority is against the minority, who do you turn to? By turning to the majority, you run the risk of only bringing shame on your own people.

joebuck3 I first saw OWW at the cinema back in the mid-nineties and it blew me away. I got it on video and remember re-watching it a number of times and still being struck by the power of the story and performances.However, I've just watched it for the first time in over 10 years on DVD and have to say that it doesn't seem quite as strong a film as I used to imagine. My old impression was that it avoided the clichés of the weaker 'ghetto' movies: particularly, those pieces of dialogue that are so clumsily shoehorned in to emphasise the social point being made, they make you wince. Maybe it's unfair to suggest this film can be rather glib or clichéd at times but there are some awkward moments, largely due to wooden acting from the young actors playing Grace and Boogie. I thought that Kerr-Bell was great when I first saw it but I wasn't quite so impressed this last time.It is a gripping and harrowing drama, though, and the leads are fantastic. Morrison's part could have been an exercise in scenery-chewing if not handled right, but it's a very assured performance and he brings such conviction to the role that his character is truly believable. Frightening but compelling, Jake is a horrendous, damaged and utterly selfish person but you feel his charisma and he can turn on the charm when he wants to. Owen's Beth starts the film displaying a weary playfulness as she tries to stay strong for her children while her disgust with Jake's selfish and violent behaviour is reaching the limits of tolerance. When it all spirals out of control, Owen brings a strength and dignity to the role that make Beth such a memorable heroine. Cliff Curtis as slimy Uncle Bully is pretty good, too.