BOY

New Zealand, 2010, 87 minutes, Colour.
James Rollaston, Taika Waititi, Te Aho Aho Eketone- Whitu.
Directed by Taika Waititi.

At once, Boy (a lively and attractive James Rolleston) looks into the camera and recites his life story for us – and for the class where this is part of a lesson. He lives in a community of Maori people, disadvantaged but with a lively spirit that sustains them or, sometimes, leads them into trouble. It is 1984 and pop culture has more than made inroads in this part of New Zealand. Boy has a devotion to Michael Jackson, and this theme is humorously woven through the whole film. Some of the kids are called Dynasty and Falcon Crest (or Chardonnay). Boy's ne'er-do-well, often dim, but exuberantly optimistic father is called Alamein, where his father fought (though he opts for Boy to call him Shogun because he likes Samurai and has James Clavell's novel). This indicates that there are quite a few laughs, and laughs out loud, to be enjoyed throughout the film.

It all takes place over a week when Boy's gran goes away to a funeral and Boy is in charge. He sometimes indulges in a fantasy world, where Michael Jackson figures, and also imagines all kind of heroic and romantic adventures for himself. Which don't happen. He also has a six year old brother, Rocky, who thinks he has magic powers (confirmed when Rocky aims at people and sometimes they fall over – and he apologises for his powers). While James Rolleston is excellent in his performance, the presence, often silent, but very expressive, of Te Aho Aho Eketone- Whitu as Rocky has something special about it. There are several kids around the town, at school, eating ice blocks at the local store or 'employed' (throwing mud at the cows) or just bored and hanging around.

We feel we have lived in Waihau Bay and got to know the people there.

Then Boy's father turns up from prison, with two friends, who have formed a gang (vastly inferior to the real gang who later bash them up while they try to do a marijuana deal). Taika Waihiti, who wrote and directed, plays Alamein, would-be Shogun, with great zest. Waihiti is a comedian, a stand-up comic, writer and director, especially of the 2007 comedy, Eagle Vs Shark, who doesn't mind appearing as foolish or as sentimental. Boy does not know Shogun but is ready to see and imagine him as a hero, wanting to be like his Dad. And that is part of his crisis, and of his growing up. He has to discover his father's limitations and faults (to do with the gang digging up a paddock for a packet of money and Boy finding it...).

There are plenty of poignant moments as well, especially since the boys' mother died in giving birth to Rocky and this has become part of his consciousness, sorry for what he did to his mother. Boy himself is by no means a perfect character. While he is bullied, he is hard on his brother and on a mentally limited beachcomber who becomes crucial to Boy's self awareness.

The thought came that if someone were to organise a day of film on indigenous people facing the 21st century, two films that would be worth considering would be Samson & Delilah for Australia and Boy for New Zealand.

1. An entertaining film? Information about New Zealand, the indigenous community? Audiences immersed in their world?

2. The blend of the serious and the comic, the satirical with the critique? Final hopes?

3. The Maori perspective, the writer-director, his contribution as an actor, his career as a comic performer, writer? Truth and insight? Entertainment?

4. Waihau Bay, the visuals, the coast, the sea, the beaches, homes and the settlement, poverty, the school, the shop, the post deliveries, the roads and bridges? The detailed look at this world? The musical score?

5. The introduction to Boy, his telling his story, straight to camera, close-up, confident, 1984, his admiration for Michael Jackson and Michael Jackson permeating his consciousness? The names of the children in the town, the influence of TV, Falcon Crest and Dynasty? His own family, his grandmother looking after him and Rocky? The range of friends? Rocky and his age, his powers, his mother dying when he was born? Boy’s personality, strong, ingratiating?

6. Rocky, his age, lively, but quiet? His mother’s death, his apologising? His imagining his powers, seeing people fall when he willed it, apologising to them? His being with Boy? His kindness towards the retarded man?

7. The grandmother, her care, going to the funeral, leaving the children with Boy in charge, the house, the meals, his exercising authority? The details of life in the house, the rooms, television, music, Michael Jackson?

8. The scenes at school, Boy telling his story, the reactions of the class, the lessons, the casual attitude of the teacher? Boy and the bullying? Boy and the tall stories, the girls, Chardonnay and her aloofness? The bored kids hanging around? The girl in the group and her liking for Boy?

9. Boy and his imagination, his stories, the visualising of these heroic stories? His wanting his father?

10. The arrival of the father, in the car, his friends, their forming a gang, their jackets, their gang talk? The cup of tea, coming into the house, the father looking around, reminiscing, the photos, his room? Talking about being in jail? His personality, comic, dumb, yet shrewd, boasting? Wanting Boy to call him Shogun? His being a father figure?

11. Boy and the scenes with his father, Rocky wanting to be in on the scenes? Boy wanting to be like his father? The friends, dumb, the drinking? The money, the pratfalls?

12. Digging for the treasure, in the field, the men, Boy finding the money, keeping it, his pet goat, the goat eating the money, Boy deceiving his father, continuing to dig, finally telling him the truth and exasperation?

13. The retarded man, Boy mocking him, yet Rocky being nice, Boy in the water and the man saving him?

14. Chardonnay, the father and the fireworks, Boy letting her play with a sparkler? The explosion?

15. The marijuana, Boy and Rocky finding the crops, hidden in the fields, collecting them, his father going to the bikies, attempting the deals, being bashed? The gang and their discontent? Going off?

16. Boy and his disillusionment with his father, the clash, on the bridge, his falling into the water, the rescue?

17. The future, Gran and her return, Dad leaving, the bond that Rocky had with his father, the truth? Learning? With the group, the father and his heavy-handedness with the bullies, the reconciliation, the girl in the group being with Boy? Rocky?

18. The deeper level of the portrait of the father, the flashbacks to his relationship with his wife, the scenes of the birth, her death and his grief?

19. Maori society, the change from the 1980s to the present?