I'm of Samoan descent, and I've found that a lot of my cousins and a lot of my white friends who watch this film get a good laugh out of it. Is this a common behaviour among non-Maori?
"Don't cry, it is to be. In time, I'll take away your miseries and make 'em mine...D'Evils."
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Ha, do yourself a favour. If you get enough credits to get into university, DON'T enroll in Anthropology. In your case, ignorance is bliss, kid.
"Don't cry, it is to be; in time I'll take away your miseries and make 'em mine... D'Evils."
....
1.5 billion Chinese.
1 Billion Africans.
Almost 1 billion Indians.
Sounds like White people are Minorities to me.
I live in america shyt dyck, if I was any of those places I would be a minority. Like I said I am going to enjoy my status as the majority while it lasts. I am going to hold anyone of color down as long as possible and hopefully I will be dead before I become a minority. So do my laundry, mow my lawn and bang all the the fat white women nobody else wants.
shareI wasn't talking about nationality i was talking about race dumbass.
Over 1.5billion chinese IN THE WORLD.
Over 1 billion AFRICANS, Not Afrikaans, AFRICAN Descent IN THE WORLD.
Nearly 1 billion Indians IN THE WORLD. THE WHOLE WORLD. NOT JUST INDIA.
Dumbass.
Yeah I will explain again. I live in American, not only that I live in a part of America that I have to really want to see a brown person to see one. In my lifetime I will enjoy every advantage I have in being a white person. I understand the darkies are taking over the world by pure numbers. As I said before, in my lifetime the white man is and will continue to be the dominant race. So suck on that bitch.
shareAnd you also live on EARTH Where the "White Devil" only accounts for less than 800,000,000 compared to the others who account for more than a billion.
Asia alone has close to 3 billion people.
Isnt funny how only 800,000,000 can run the whole world while the rest are still living in mud huts and wiping there ass with there hand still.
shareIf you are an example of the white race, then I am ashamed to say I am a white woman. It's people like you that give us a bad reputation. Your out and out ignorance and marginalization of others is reprehensible. Oh yeah, in case your too ignorant to understand my big words, those were insults. You disgust me!
shareIts okay libby.
bigtopne is a white American. He is likely to be unintelligent, uninformed and not realise that the rest of the world exists. Funnily enough what they have not yet accepted is that their "superior" ways have resulted in their country now being bankrupt. They are owned by the Chinese. If it was in their interest China could turn America into a wasteland overnight.
If bigtopne lives for another 40 years or so he will live to see himself become a functional minority. Americans are living on borrowed time and the clock has stopped ticking, time is up.
Strangely enough bigtopne doesn't realise that their trailer park trash are as bad as any dis-functional non-white community.
jackblythe, I take my hat off to you, kind sir.
shareI'm from Poland and i had only two laughs during the movie. Both were when Beth opened her beer with her kitchen gear.
shareI am Danish, and I've seen this film many times and own it on DVD.
I find it deeply moving, at points uncomfortable, and with violence that is realistic, unpleasant and disturbing. I don't find it funny in the least!
I remember being stunned by this film back in 1994. It's not as if the US doesn't have it's share of extreme dpmestic vioence, it does, and I've seen it first hand. But the backdrop of Once Were Warriors, the lives of a group of contemporary Maoris was something I got a look at for the first time. The performances were hair raising to say the least.
shareThis movie, and some of the lines particularly Jakes, are so ingrained in New Zealander's that we can laugh about some of them. It's got nothing to do with whether you are white or Maori or Samoan or Tongan or whatever. Jakes "too much weights, not enough speed work" is a classic line that most Kiwi's will recognize, along with Jake's "this is the life aye kids, don't even have to change gears" and yes indeed even some more serious lines are regularly said jokingly. But that doesn't mean people find the movie funny, rather we've just seen the movie so many times that we can extract some of the lines from the context of the film and then have a laugh about them.
shareWell your friends sound like *beep* if they think its funny. My family is Irish stock (Ma and Pa born here, Grandparents over there) and early family life was pretty much an exact mirror of the film. Dad was an alcoholic gangster. Smooth and charming when he wanted to be or untill he got to much in him and then it was fights and beating up mom me. Probably would have killed us if moms never took off. So anyway no, as a white guy I don't find anything funny about this film. It's pretty sad when tribal people got *beep* over by the Xtian anglo-saxons the world over - - remember the Irish were tribal too, we had our own language and culture they took from us, so being "white" really doesn't have a lot to do with it. This just seems to be a common illness in tribal societies when we were forced in a very short time span to adopt to an alien way of life that was anathema and the anithesis of how we chose to live. It's why we still don't really fit into their world and it's better that we start to migrate back to ours. Like in the before time. The long, long ago. :)
I agree. This movie has stuck with me since I saw it back in 1994. Not funny at all! Probably the best of its kind!
sharePeople who laugh at this movie are not actually finding it funny. They are unable to confront the emotions that it elicits in them and use laughter to distance themselves from their discomfort. This is also likely to be from those who may suffer or who have suffered from similar circumstances.
The realism of the violence and the dis-functionality of the community and family unit are highly concerning. Apart from some intended humour there is nothing funny in this movie whatsoever.
The fact that you,your counsins and friends find this amusing suggests that you have likely been in circumstances of similar disfunction. For people who have been raised in a safe and loving environment this movie contains no humour but only a stark and horrifying portrayal of how wrong a community can be. I feel for you. You should try to confront the real emotions this movie has connected with and understand that life does not have to be like this.
I am of Ngai Tahu decendency but have inherited many of my physical features from my European father. I've watched this film several times with pakehas who don't know my ancestry and have never heard any of them laugh at this film, or express comments that would lead me to believe it makes them 'feel better about themselves'.
However, I have once walked into a conversation about this film and about domestic violence with an ex-boyfriend's mother who made a comment about it being 'a Maori problem'. I understand that this is a common point of view in some groups of pakeha New Zealanders and that statistically, Maori families are more likely to experience domestic violence than pakehas. My own family has sadly suffered at the hands of a family member.
However, statistics also record that Maori earn less, own fewer assets, have a higher rate of suicide, are less likely to persue higher learning, among many other disadvantages... these are all issues which make many members of the Maori community more vulnerable to socio-economic factors. New Zealand has also had a worsening gap between the rich and poor in recent years.
I believe it's a common problem where indigenous populations are colonised and therefore, a problem of all society in New Zealand. Domestic abuse is certainly not limited to Maori or Pacific Islanders. And neither is stereotypical thinking limited to pakehas.
This was an excellent, challenging film and groundbreaking for it's time.
parts of this film are funny, which some people may not have got, not all Maori have violence in their life yet most do have a great sense of humour, and this film was very well made, the humour was just a part of the culture dipicted in the movie
shareI honestly feel that this movie could've been made everywhere. Yes they were Maori but families like this exists everywhere and not just there. Its not a Maori issue I think. Domestic violence exists everywhere
The movie could've easily been made somewhere else. Like my country Sweden. There are people here who are just like the Kekes. Poor and outside the normal society who turn to violence and alcohol when thins get rough.
If you walk through Stockholm or any other larger town you find areas and neighbourhoods just like this one.
Films like this are needed as a wake up call for all. It should be viewed by all, especially in schools. It is a important issue that's not very talked about unfortunately. This movie could be used as a first step to talk about it.
I've found that a lot of my cousins and a lot of my white friends who watch this film get a good laugh out of it.
KiBL : but we're talking about vision...how fast does it travel?share
"They hire a movie with a death scene that would shatter the hardest of hearts, and you'll still get juvenile comments to cover-up the fact that they nearly blubbed in front of their mates."
This evoked such a vivid image in me. I KNOW I have seen this happen.
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I don't know why anyone would find this film amusing. Its one of the most brutal films I've ever seen.
shareWell im white and I didn't find it funny. Its a fantastic film but in no way is it funny, its very real and find it frightening that some people are going through such domestic violence, sexual violence and just the over all violence by Jake in general.
TEAM FINN!!