Customer Reviews

Utu [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ignore Leonard Maltin's review of this film and check it out for yourself! What the British did to the Maoris in New Zealand curiously parallels what happened to the Native Americans in the USA. The story concerns a Maori warrior serving in the British Army who discovers that his family has been wiped out by the same military he is serving in. He tattoos his face and engages in UTU (ritualistic revenge). It is a powerful film, little-known in the USA, but tight, exciting, and and sure to leave you thinking.

The conflicts of the indigenous peoples of Australia and New Zealand are often eclipsed by the conflict of Native Americans against the U.S. government. Utu offers an insightful snapshot into the conflict many of the New Zealand Maori felt against the encrouching culture of the English. The film showed that even those Maori who aided the English struggled inside to keep their cultural identity from being pulled into the undertoe of English colonialism.

The film serves up a good course of action, especially with the double barrelled shotgun scene. I highly recommend this film because it vividly presents the conflict between colonial powers and indigenous peoples. This film is "Last of the Mohicans" in a New Zealand context.

I saw this movie when it first came out in the early 1980s, and a recent reviewing confirmed its brilliance. The subject matter is unique, a Maori uprising against Europeans in 19th century New Zealand. But what makes the movie worth watching are the performances. Several of the performers stand out, but especially Bruno Lawrence, who I have long considered one of the great underrated actors of the past twenty years. He has never gotten the kinds of rolls that I believe he deserved, but his work in this film as the settler bent on revenge for the loss of all he loved is stunning, as was his work in the films THE QUIET EARTH and SMASH PALACE. I was baffled when this movie came out that it didn't make a bigger splash than it did, and I have remained amazed that so few people seem to know about it.

Anyone who enjoys any Australian or New Zealand film should definitely seek this move out. Just an outstanding film.

Based on a true account of the Maori uprising of 1870, 'Utu' posits the often asked and all important question "Who are the savages amongst us?" In this particular case is it the native Maori of New Zealand who dared defy British occupation and rule, or was it English arrogance and total lack of concern for the native culture that brought about the eventual end of British Colonialism in the area?

Brutal, violent, uncompromising, yet at the same time it contains moments of unexpected humor. Another great film in a long line of movies to come out of Australia and New Zealand. Unforgetable performances by Anzac Wallace as the rebellious Te Wheke and Bruno Lawrence as the white settler obsessed with avenging his wife's death.

Some lessons are never learned. Savages come in all forms, colors and disguises.

This is a beautiful film. It is fiction, but an accurate portrayal of the sort of thing that went on in the 1850's when the Maori tribes were attempting to get their own land back from the British. There is some violence but it is necessary to the story and not excessive. The country is achingly beautiful, the performances are perfect, the music is haunting. Utu is unforgettable.

Set during the Maori Wars in New Zealand, this movie is a powerful examination of the damage revenge does. Nothing is cut and dried, and it demands a lot from viewers, but in the end it rewards with a new perception about the difference between justice and vengence. See it, if for no other reason than it is one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen.

...the quality of the reproduction is very poor. The DVD seems to have been made from an old, grainy, played-too-many-times tape. The audio is okay, but the video is not: if you can find some other source for this great old flick (I could not), then I recommend trying that first.

Note: This DVD cannot be viewed in the America's without a multi-region player.

Based on a true account of the Maori uprising of 1870, 'Utu' posits the often asked and all important question "Who are the savages amongst us?" In this particular case is it the native Maori of New Zealand who dared defy British occupation and rule, or was it English arrogance and total lack of concern for the native culture that brought about the eventual end of British Colonialism in the area?

Brutal, violent, uncompromising, yet at the same time it contains moments of unexpected humor. Another great film in a long line of movies to come out of Australia and New Zealand. Unforgetable performances by Anzac Wallace as the rebellious Te Wheke and Bruno Lawrence as the white settler obsessed with avenging his wife's death.

Some lessons are never learned. Savages come in all forms, colors and disguises.

Leonard Maltin's characterizing this film as "dull" leads me to question whether he's actually seen it. In fact, it's a remarkable piece of work with powerful performances. "Sometimes I'm mad ... sometimes I'm not!"

Utu - Maori for `Blood for Blood' - is almost a great film. It's certainly a terrific `Western,' even if it is set in New Zealand in 1870. It's a Maori version of any number of Westerns where Geronimo jumps the reservation and starts a private war, with Anzac Wallace's army tracker Te Wheke deserting when he finds the British Army have destroyed his peaceful village and seeking revenge on all the `Pakehas.' As his guerrilla war continues, more and more Maori soldiers desert to Te Wheke's cause (not always welcome, either), preconceived notions of right and wrong are challenged as alliances and agendas shift until nobody's hands are clean.

Director and co-writer Geoff Murphy really knows how to use the camera to best effect and uses the landscape superbly, capturing the wet humid feel of a country at once half-built and already decaying, but more than that he tells a great story with some terrific scenes that hark back to a style of classic but morally complex storytelling that went out of fashion in the late 60s and early 70s. There's also a level of savagery that's long been lost in American cinema - not only does he hang the verger from bell rope but he also hacks off the head of the vicar in front of his congregation and then delivers a sermon of his own with the head resting beside him on the pulpit. The action scenes are superbly handled, at once brutally realistic and engrossing. Unfortunately he miscalculates with Bruno Lawrence's initially intriguing settler seeking revenge of his own, overplaying the comedy in his madness. It's not enough to overbalance the film but it does undermine the character, and it's often unnecessary in a film which has a lot of dry wit in the script already.

Sadly the DVD copy is pretty disgraceful, a real pity for a film that looks this good.