Ngati: a Tribal Drama

Rip It Up, Issue 122, 1 September 1987, Page 2

Ngati: a Tribal Drama

Ngati, the New Zealand film chosen for the prestigious Critics’ Week at the recent Cannes festival, is released locally this month. It’s a movie that, in the words of its director Barry Barclay, had “hard-bitten European critics coming out of the cinema with eyes red from crying.”

Barclay is best known in the documentary field — the 1974 television series Tangata Whenua and the 1984 feature The Neglected Miracle. Ngati, his first dramatic feature, required a different approach: “In many ways it was easier!" he says. “It’s terrible in documentary, you're working out the content as you go. With drama, things are written up before you start — the format is more precise. You don't have that luxury with a documentary.” How does Barclay feel about the present state of New Zealand documentary making?

“We are the most impoverished documentary-making country I’ve been in and this wasn't so in the early 70s. Documentary is a reflection of where we are at at the moment, and I feel embarrassed that we have not made an in-depth reflection regularly on our land, and what it means to stand on our land." The director describes Ngati as essentially a “film about the people on the land." Tama Poata's script about the problems of the Ngati Porou on the East Cape in the late 40s was written four or five years ago for television, but "they hadn’t been able to handle it."

Barclay speaks emotionally about the lack of Maori representation on our cinema and television screens: "We formed a lobby group, Nga Tamatoa, to try and correct things. In 25 years of television drama there hasn’t been a single Maori drama as I define it — which means a drama made by Maoris, written and promoted by Maoris. Things are looking better now and we're in a climate in which things are changing — we’ll probably have one next year. In terms of biculturalism, the Film Commission is way ahead of other institutions.” Craft Barclay has been working with young Maoris creating a film workshop in which they can learn their craft in a Maori environment. The Department of Education could be doing more: “We have had 241 plays for kids in the School Journal. There are four from Jamaica, four from ancient China, two on stoats, two on noise, and only two in 20 years on a Maori theme — both written by a Pakeha. What an incredible way to treat a culture!” There’s a dry humour to Barclay’s description of the film industry as “a war machine which is very efficient and calculated, but which doesn’t leave much room for the soul." He finds though that other approaches are possible: “I’ve tried to evolve a set of working principles which began in the 70s: deal with the community and not with the ’big shots.’ We must involve the old people, the young people. When you apply that rule of community to a documentary, the result is totally different to a BBC or CBS type of approach. “The same thing is true of Ngati. \Ne have been brought up with the principles of Greek drama which usually involved one person (usually a man) ending up tortured and killed ... cartharsis and all that.

Tama Poata and myself thought, ’Why not a drama that involves the whole people?’ One person’s demise is not going to make the whole tribe weep. It’s been very funny when we came to do the promotion for the film when people want to know who the star

of Ngati is'." Tradition Ngati has a predominantly Maori cast and this brought its own difficulties. "There are some very good young actors coming through but, for the 25 to 80 year

olds, we just have not had a European type of drama tradition. We’re lucky to have Wi Kuki Kaa, who is such an unsung actor in this country. He’s our Kiri te Kanawa of the theatre, one of the greatest actors this country has turned out

and no one will use him. Maoridom has its own performance values — you have to be able to perform. There's a tradition of oratory, -waiata and soon, but we’re talking about actors,. and actors have to • work. You can’t be an actor for one week a - year. You need - the re- : gular opportunity to work and develop your communication skills on the film set.” .’-Z-v-'- --

t Ngatii like Barclay’s earlier doc- : umentaries, is very much a political film. /Although he feels that films tend to follow political movements and crystallise what is already understood and accepted, the issues brought up in Tama Poata's script are still relevant today. “The Coast was absolutely devastated in the mid-50s by a more or less deliberate resettlement policy (although some people might interpret that differently). i The result is that there are more g Ngati ■ Porou living iin . Sydney or Auckland than in their spiritual homeland. I think that about 180 men are now out of work with the corporatisation of the forestry industry, and the same thing is happening with the fishery and forestry works. These are issues that

Tama has very much to heart.” Fight When he was filming the Tangata Whenua series in 1974, Barry : Barclay had a “tremendous fight" with television to interview in Maori. He won that battle, and the finished documentary has English subtitles. Things have improved in the meantime: • '- “I've just done this film in the Urewera for television, and ironically, it's the first major film to be made in Tuhde since I shot some of Tangata Whenua there in the 70s. This time I made demands. I wanted a six week pre-production period, I wanted to go and talk to the - old people -on the marae, - I wanted archival dimension. j also , wanted every trained Maori I could have on - the crew, together with four trainees. Every film tries to advance the cause a wee bit.” Ngati is an emotional , experience. It’s difficult not to draw parallels with the return of Te Maori — Te Hokinga Mai. With the simple insistence of a Bresson, Barclay has come up with a vision that speaks from the heart of this country. .

William Dart