Utu - Redux

Synopsis: In 1870s New Zealand, Te Wheke (Anzac Wallace), a Maori scout for the colonial troops, finds his tribe massacred by the army he is working for. Anguished and betrayed, he vows to exact retribution - Utu - on the Pakeha.

“Geoff Murphy's 1983 Utu is unveiled afresh in its ravishing, pictorial splendour. ”~Bill Gosden, NZIFF

Aroview: With lavish technical enhancement and narrative streamlining, this 'Redux' version of the 1983 epic restores its rightful place in the canon of great New Zealand films, one that is arguably our most culturally resonant and significant.

After the great success of GOODBYE PORK PIE, dir. Geoff Murphy and his team got their fingernails dirty with this indigenous 'Western' that addresses a turbulent period in our history - circa 1870 - where vast casualties were suffered both by the native Maori and British colonialists caught in the cycle of revenge, or 'utu'. Convincingly mounted and well sustained through a series of memorable set pieces, it pays off its ambitions handsomely as both drama and spectacle.

NZ International Film Festival 2013
Adopt-a-Movie Kindly Adopted by Graham Slater

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