Whale Rider (5/10): The struggle of keeping past traditions alive in a modern world

“We were waiting for the firstborn of the new generation, for the descendant of the whale rider. For the boy who would be chief.”

This New Zealand coming of age film about a young girl from the Whangara tribe struggling to find her place in this traditionally patriarch society, opens with tragedy. A woman dies giving birth to twins, and only the sister survives. She is the one narrating this event while introducing us to her tribe's culture and saying what a huge disappointment this was for her grandfather who was expecting the first born son to become the tribe chief. Her father, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis), is heartbroken and against her grandfather's wishes he doesn't assume the responsibility of becoming a leader, deciding to travel abroad instead as an artist. He leaves the girl, Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes), in the care of his parents, Koro (Rawiri Paratene) and Nanny (Vicky Haughton). From a very early age, Paikea feels she is destined to become the leader of her tribe, but despite Koro's love for her he refuses to let her participate in the training and search for the new leader.  Of course a film about female empowerment like this was directed by a woman, Niki Caro, who also adapted the screenplay from Witi Ihimaera's novel. The story almost has a fairytale quality to it, but it does have a lot to say about sexism and keeping up with past customs in a modern world.

At the time of its release, Whale Rider, was received with a lot of praise from audiences at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals and it also received an Academy Award nomination for Keisha Castle-Hughes' lead performance who at the time was the youngest actress to be nominated in that category. Keisha was given strong material to work with and she is by far the best thing about the movie. Her performance is breathtaking as Paikea as she captures the struggle to find her place in this society that she feels destined to lead. Her relationship with her grandfather is the center of the movie and it was one I had a difficult time believing considering he ignores her for almost the entire film despite her love and belief in him. There is a powerful scene near the end of the film in which she honors him at her school but it didn't move me as much considering I didn't share that same sympathy for Koro. It is however a wonderful scene thanks to Keisha's touching speech and I'm assuming it was the reason why she was nominated. 

My greatest complaint is with the pacing of the first half of the film that never managed to engage me. The family dynamics weren't compelling and it took a while to understand why Paikea would want to stay in such an unwelcoming place out of a sense of duty in fulfilling her destiny. I did enjoy the final 20 minutes which were touching and inspirational, but it wasn't enough to save the first 70 minutes and its slow pacing. The only other interesting character in the film is Paikea's uncle who is given little screen time, but his relationship with her seemed like something much more interesting and worth exploring more. I didn't enjoy Whale Rider as much as I had hoped, and I found it to be quite a missed opportunity for such an interesting story.

McFarland, USA (7/10): A formulaic inspirational sports movie that stands out thanks to Costner's charisma

“So, do you guys get paid by the hour? -No, the field.”

McFarland, USA is the perfect opportunity to get to see Kevin Costner doing what he does best, which is inspirational sport movies. Once again he delivers a charismatic performance, this time as the coach of a cross country team from a poor school in McFarland, California. Costner has never been better than when he is playing a role in a sport movie (with the exception of the cold blooded murderer Mr. Brooks). He elevates a film that would otherwise be deemed as formulaic and predictable by bringing a lot of heart to the film and thus making it stand out from other inspirational Disney films. This is the classic fish out of water tale where a Caucasian coach is introduced to a struggling latino community. You could very easily predict what is going to happen, but somehow the film manages to make an emotional connection with the audience through carefully developed characters. The film isn’t interested in simply pointing out the accomplishments of these cross country runners, but rather focusing on who they are and how they relate with each other and their families. There are also some funny racial gags that can be expected as well. This is a feel good movie that is expertly directed by Niki Caro who has delivered some solid films in the past (Whale Rider and North Country). Caro is one of the many uprising female directors with a strong voice in Hollywood and someone who I will be looking forward to in the future. 

The film takes place in 1987 in a small California town with a predominantly latino community. Kevin Costner plays Jim White, a teacher who applies for a job at one of the schools here after having moved around from different schools for several incidents throughout his career. He is overqualified for the job, but White is running out of options. He moves to McFarland with his wife Cheryl (Maria Bello) and his two young daughters, Julie (Morgan Saylor) and Jamie (Elsie Fisher). At first they aren’t thrilled to be here feeling out of place, but soon the community welcomes them. Principal Camillo (Valente Rodriguez) allows Mr. White to start a cross country program in the school after he realizes that most of the kids are good runners. They basically get up at dawn to work in the crop fields and then run to the school and back again after they’re done. Despite not knowing anything about running, Mr. White (who his students call Blanco) uses his coaching abilities to get the best out of the natural born runners. The team consists of three brothers (Danny, David, and Damacio) who come from a very family oriented home. There is also Thomas (Carlos Pratts) whose father has just been released out of prison and  seems to have some issues at home. He is the most talented runner, but he feels like he should be spending his time at work helping his family instead of in practice. Cross country becomes a means for these kids to grow and stay out of trouble. The film focuses on their relationship with White and the rest of their families. 

McFarland starts off a bit slow, but once we are introduced to the runners the story picks up and becomes emotionally engaging. The kids have great chemistry with Kevin Costner and the tension comes mainly from getting permission by their families to practice rather than on external things. These kids come from low income families and have to work during early and late hours of the day at the crop fields before and after school. They have a hard lifestyle and once you see the film you won’t complain about your childhood. This inspirational sports movie is formulaic, but when the formula works as well as it does there is no need to change it. I was pleasantly surprised by this inspiring film and it is a shame it wasn’t seen by more people. Structurally it is very similar to Disney’s Million Dollar Arm, but McFarland has a lot more heart and the characters are more engaging. Kevin Costner’s charisma elevates the film, but the kids also deliver strong roles, especially Carlos Pratts who has several strong scenes here.