Whale Rider

I am a writer. I am a critic.

As a writer I attract attention with my writing. As a critic I attract attention with my criticism. As a writer and a critic I attract attention that not only borders the outrageous but makes The Twilight Zone seem tame by comparison.

Lately, however, this attention tends to take the form of a question: What do you want from a given film or movie?

A good story, I reply. Nothing more.

In simplicity there is certain genius. So, why, then, are there so many idiots about on the landscape of the Hollywood Machine? Why is it there are so many about today who cannot understand that to succeed all one needs is a good story? Could it be that such logic and reason are so simple fewer and fewer can actually understand this?

I wonder, offering as example of same "Whale Rider". Here is a film constructed around a simple story. A story so simple almost anyone should have been able to think of it.

But not just anyone did.

Which is why, I suggest, "Whale Rider" is proving to be the box office success it is and will be: Simply.

Because.

I could make my point by telling you about all the awards and acknowledgements this film has garnered to date. I could make my point on this matter further by telling how it is this film has done the impossible--tell the story of a 12-year-old girl and do it in such a way that it not only appeals to 12-year-old girls but their parents, siblings, and the world at large.

I am not going to do that. Instead I am going to focus--pun intended--on the story, the simple story, that makes "Whale Rider" the narrative joy, the cinematic thrill, and the absolute delight it is: Set in present day, New Zealand, the movie begins with the birth of twins: A boy and a girl. The boy and the mother die. The girl, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes), lives.

Although whether or not she survives is not immediately apparent: Her father, Porourangi (Cliff Davis), an artist, leaves New Zealand and the girl behind, to be raised by her grandparents, Koro and Nanny Flowers.

Koro, it must be pointed out, is the chief of his people. As such he has certain expectations: His son, Porourangi, should have succeeded him as chief, but since he has left and has no interest in returning, well, who's next?

Given this is a patriarchial society conventional wisdom would dictate that Pai could not be the next leader of the people.

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