Whale Rider
Year | 2002 |
Starring | Cliff Curtis, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton |
Director(s) | Niki Caro |
Rating | PG-13 |
Genre(s) | Drama, Family |
Runtime | 101 min |
On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea’s direct descendants. Paikea, an 11-year-old girl named for the heroic ancestor and born into a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader.