Once Were Warriors

This picture is one of the best to emerge from New-Zealand in quite a while (if you don't count The Piano). Director Tamahori has clone a marvellous job in depicting the day-to-day horror of the Heke family, which is held together only by its women, the sorely tried Beth and her eldest daughter, 16-year-old Grace. Beth comes from a noble Maori family, who disapproved of her marriage to Jake Heke some 18 years earlier; she left her roots to live in the city with her hard-drinking spouse and over the years, they've had five children. But the family is falling apart, mainly due to Jake's irresponsibility.