New Zealand-born director Lee Tamahori has dabbled in big-budget Hollywood film-making (“Die Another Day,” “XXX: State of the Union”) as well as more intimately-scaled films exploring his Māori heritage (“Once Were Warriors,” “Mahana”). So he brings both skills to bear in his sweeping, early 19th-century period drama about Māori conflict— ostensibly crafting a founding myth for New Zealand.
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Aotearoa, as New Zealand is known in the contemporary Māori language, is not at peace circa 1830. Several Māori tribes are at war with one another. And the first white Europeans have begun to appear as settlers —as the British empire encroaches ever outwards. We see Epworth, a tiny coast-side town of 100 British expats and a dozen buildings, taking seed right before our eyes.
Arriving from the other side of the world to offer ministerial services at this burgeoning outpost is lay preacher and ex-soldier Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce). Though not before, he’s already thrust into the middle of the brewing Māori strife. Munro chances upon a violent skirmish and is about to witness Rangimai’s (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne) execution at the hands of warlord Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare). He ends up trading her life for his horse and takes her with him to Epworth as his ward.
Even with only 100 white people living on Māori land, Rangimai is subject to heinous racism by the British residents of Epworth. Munro does his best to protect her and preserve her dignity. Still, he only manages to find one ally in the entire town— Charlotte (Jacqueline McKenzie), the widow of a fallen Māori warrior and well-versed in their customs and traditions.
For a while, though, you might be forgiven for thinking that this will be yet another film with a predominantly white cast with a few Māori characters thrown in— mainly to witness their degradation and dehumanization. The film, in a welcome move, switches gears part of the way through and takes us away from Epworth to Rangimai’s home, where her father, Maianui (Antonio Te Maioha) holds sway. The Convert then tracks the violent dispute between the dueling warlords Maianui and Akatarewa— allowing the large Māori cast to dominate the screen with only two notable white characters — Munro and Charlotte.
“The Convert” is to be commended for any number of perilous traps it cannily avoids that many well-intentioned films fall into. Not the barest hint of romance is developed between Munro and Rangimai, a painful cliche of most cross-cultural stories. The Māori characters almost exclusively speak in subtitled Māori rather than having everybody speak English. The film also scrupulously avoids depicting Māori culture as monolithic and shows us credible variation between different Māori cultures — not just appearances and garbs but differing agendas and worldviews. It also does not paint the indigenous people as angelic and gives full representation to their identity— they’re a proud warrior culture, and Tamahori brings that life, no holds barred.
The film also cleverly subverts the true meaning of its title. When war between Maianui and Akatarewa seems inevitable, the well-meaning Munro preaches a message of peace and even undertakes the task of trying to convert Akatarewa to Christianity to broker a truce. By the end, the white savior trope does not play out, and the title more suitably applies to Munro himself as he assimilates ever further with Maianui’s tribe.
Pearce is excellent as the white man amidst all this Māori dissension. His middle-aged, weathered, pock-marked visage, with salt-and-pepper hair and beard, is yet movie star handsome and enormously emotive — especially in a lengthy, tearful monologue where he confesses to committing unconscionable war crimes as a soldier. Ngatai-Melbourne, as the female lead, is a pillar of strength and paints a rich and rewarding arc with her performance. We see her convincingly grow from a destitute widow to a badass action heroine by the end of the film. Also terrific is Antonio Te Maioha as Maianui. Audiences might already know him as the gladiator Barca from Starz’s “Spartacus.” He brings command and stature to his role.
Jacqueline McKenzie notably delivers most of her performance in the Māori language as she often functions as an intermediary between Murnro and the Māori leaders. Dean O’Gorman is amusing as a wily British trader who sells muskets to both sides of the Māori conflict, like a 19th-century Lockheed Martin or Raytheon. It is a perverse commentary on the fact the military-industrial complex is as old as war itself. Eds Eramiha, as an almost comically shredded Māori warrior, makes his presence felt in a brief silent role, even amidst a cast full of bare-chased muscular Māori men. Seeing the Māori perform the haka is a highlight. We’ve seen it on rugby fields, often performed by white athletes. Seeing it as an actual war dance performed by a large Māori army right before a bloody battle – returns it to its proper context.
The recreation of period Māori settings and costumes is exquisite right down to the face tattoos and ornaments. “The Convert” just overall functions as a very immersive deep-dive into Māori culture in an entertaining and accessible package. The filmmaker’s extensive partnership with the Māori is evident in every aspect of the production.
Tamahori successfully brings a sense of scale and scope to “The Convert” He displays an eye for wide-screen compositions, and the film is frequently visually stunning. The New Zealand landscape, shown off to immense advantage in Peter Jackson’s six Middle-Earth films, is again instrumental in creating a sense of wonder and majesty. Action scenes —of which there are plenty, pop with old-school craft. The opening sea-faring scenes and the concluding battle sequences are well-staged. There is much gruesome war violence and a copious amount of blood-letting, but Tamahori does not gratuitously linger on any of it. If this is indeed the swansong for the 73-year-old filmmaker, he’s going out on a high note.
“The Convert” is inspired by Hamish Clayton’s novel “Wulf” but isn’t a direct adaptation. In film-making terms, The Convery ultimately represents a tremendous feat of reclamation, a Māori story told by a Māori director in the Māori language with a large Māori cast. Even while telling indigenous stories, such across-the-board representation of indigenous people is still rare in Hollywood. New Zealand did succumb to becoming a colony of the British Empire after the events shown in the film, but the film nevertheless paints a stirring picture of a proud, sovereign culture with all its complexities intact. [B+]
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