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."
Absolutely not. I find it disturbing and beautiful. A very real drama. The actors are superb.
shareWhite american here. Caught th is film on tv one night and it mesmerized me. it was a brutal film to get through, yet, I bought the dvd to watch it further. I like the film on a whole, despite the violence and poor Grace's situation. I like to watch it because most of these people, especially the weak ones find their spirit and the hapless Grace is actually the saving grace for her family. she is their tanifar (is this the correct term?)
I see nothing to laugh at in this movie, I am a man in my fifties, and everytime i watch this it disturbs me but i am uplifted by Grace's funeral only because this is where Beth and her children find the strength and their spiritual being. I love how they show Beth walking off the screen when she leaves Jake in the parking lot. Out of his life forever.
Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...share
I don't know anyone who watches this film for a laugh. If white people think that they are above this they really need a reality check. This story could have been about any ethnicity or race. Bad times happen to everyone and a lot of people deal with domestic violence and rape.
GOD whoever thinks this is funny is a freaking sociopath.
Grace getting raped and killing herself isn't at all funny, but there are many funny moments in this movie. Some genuinely like when Jake throws out the guy simulating his penis in front of the ladies or when he sees his son in the bar. Others become funny for their sheer over the top violence. Even when he beats is wife. It shouldn't be, but the way they act it makes it feel like a parody.
The *beep* in the beginning getting beat and uncle Bully at the end are more pleasurable than funny.
It's all part of the brilliance of the movie. Normally you should hate a guy who acts the way Jake does, and although you at times do you are still left feeling sorry for him. He's not so much a bad dude as he is a conflicted male trying to make it in a very tough, poor environment. Under all the drink and angers issues there is a good man.
Probably because of Temuera Morrison's performance. His acting is so strange and over the top it becomes funny. I also laughed several times when he was on screen, but for me it was because I kept seeing him as the dog guy from Island of Doctor Moreau. I'll always associate him with that performance.
shareDefinitely not.
Whoever says so is merely trolling.
There's nothing to feel good about in this movie (other than not being in the same room as Jake - that's my personal one, though).
It's making a deliberate comment on our society. It's pointing out the flaws within our culture. But laughing at our own flaws, would be the biggest flaw of all.
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Here in Hawaii it's very popular amongst native Polynesians, who can relate to the effect American (British in the case of OWW) imperialism has had on their traditional societies. I don't know anyone who finds it funny, that sounds pathological to me.
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