L'Âme des guerriers

Once Were Warriors est un regard cruel sur la vie périphérique d'une famille socialement souffrante et entourée de violence. Les tourments des personnages les plus purs et les meilleurs doivent se terminer par la mort pour ouvrir les yeux de leurs proches et les pousser à prendre des décisions de vie importantes. Un drame très bien joué et réalisé, après lequel votre vie semblera être un rêve féerique dans les nuages. L'atmosphère dépressive et le sentiment d'impuissance sont renforcés par le grondement sombre en arrière-plan et par les plans en contre-plongée fréquents, lorsque toute la terreur psychologique nous submerge avec la même intensité que les protagonistes souffrants (la scène du déchirement du journal intime juste avant la scène clé du film). Malgré tous les aspects positifs et les ambitions artistiques respectables, j'ai trouvé l'intrigue du film un peu absurde en elle-même. Ce qui serait ailleurs un premier tournant plus important dans un film plus développé devient ici la conclusion après 100 minutes prolongées. Mais si je vivais dans des conditions aussi désespérées et opprimées que les principaux protagonistes, ces sentiments d'absurdité seraient probablement rapidement remplacés par une identification douloureuse à la réalité. Et ce film serait pour moi une source d'inspiration pour la vie. (05/08/2002)

A very stark film about the Maori people, who in the civilized world only remember how they were a nation of proud warriors. Some have not lost their pride, inherited from their ancestors to this day, others drown their frustrations in alcohol. The performances are brilliant, especially Temuera Morrison's as the neurotic drunk and bully, when I first saw him I thought, "Oh my God, where did they get this nutter? He can't possibly be an actor!" The whole film gives the viewer a feeling of incredible authenticity, and it opened Lee Tamahori the doors to Hollywood. (04/01/2003)

Cruel reality, without exaggerations, diversions, American pathos or making heroes out of people who simply aren't. On a spiritual level, an incredibly powerful and heavy film that throws you into a depression not by a false pressure or the depiction of physical suffering, but simply by the fact that you believe everything that happens in it, every tear, wound, scream, and twist. The basic story and the conspicuous tediousness of some scenes prevent me from appreciating it sufficiently in terms of cinematic art, but that was not the point here. This is mostly about breathtaking performances, about the human conscience and about the slums of New Zealand, where I don't think anyone would want to grow up. Hats off. 85% (30/09/2013)

Tamahori's directorial debut, exploring the nature of (in)human brutality and instinctive primitivism, may indeed portray the indigenous people without unnecessary embellishment, as well as avoiding total demonization, but it certainly doesn’t deliver a comprehensive picture. The blood of the slaves in a fistfight with the "warriors" may hold up, but a more skillful mix of characters would have helped, given that a confrontation at the level of spouses, where there is clearly a "caste" of the ruling man and woman in the position of near-slave, could have done without the analysis of the relationships inherited from the ancestors. Fortunately, Tamahori makes up for this with an unvarnished view of the offspring, who form the only common element in this unequal relationship. Therefore, the greatest strength of the film lies not in the barroom brawls of hot heads and big muscles but is brought out most wonderfully in the scene of the family outing, when the mother recounts to the children meeting their father and the subsequent aftermath, and especially the utterly emotionally overwhelming impact that is initiated by the tree with the swing. This is the strongest and most important thing the film has to offer. Together they resolve nothing and the "cathartic" conclusion deserves a longer discussion. However, the feeling that "this is how things work in some places, not only on the other side of our planet" is more than unpleasant. (17/09/2006)