Boy, you have to see Taika's new film

BY ANITA EVANS

The film Boy - written and directed by Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi - is about a boy growing up in the small settlement of Waihau Bay on New Zealand's East Coast in the 1980's.

It centres around a week in the life of Boy and his brother, when after seven years in prison their father returns home.

Like many kids Boy only views his dead beat dad in a positive light - a hero, a sea diver, a war hero and a rugby legend. Waititi, the director of Eagle vs Shark and Two Cars, One Night, also plays Boy's father Alamein.

In the early stages of the story the father is someone who seems manipulative and cruel. Waititi said Alamein was a person few would care to relate to.

"But I believe in him as a person, I am very protective of all my characters," he said. "He needs to be charming and funny, someone you have faith in, underneath you can see the potential, yet he is also dangerous and unpredictable.

"He is, for me, the most interesting character because of what he represents. He is a symbolic sacrifice to the shadow side of ourselves, a warning or reminder of what Boy could become, yet he is a crucial catalyst for Boy's change."

On casting the children for this film, Waititi says he wanted an authenticity to them "because it is set in a place where people speak a certain way, they are different to city kids and I really didn't want to ask someone to fake that".

Using local children also meant they were comfortable on a marae. They also had their whanau with them for the shoot.

"These kids reminded me of just how much incredible talent we have here in New Zealand. Maori kids don't get many opportunities like this and to find a pair of boys so different and so engaging as actors, filled me with awe and pride."

The use of childhood drawings, sparklers, Steven Spielberg's ET, Michael Jackson and modern trappings like a new microwave, are all woven into movie magic.

It also contains themes based around the evolution of Maori warriors, the role of drugs in society, the changing structure of families and the role fathers have to play in bringing up their children.

This film is soul hitting from many angles and is sure to become a New Zealand treasure. 

As Waititi says: "In this film we are watching ourselves grow up."

* Boy is released on March 25.

-Dargaville & Districts News