Utu

Utu (1983)

In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.

Date of release
1983-01-31
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (33)
Runtime
1h 58m
Genres
War, Adventure, Drama, History
Director
Geoff Murphy

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: New Zealand

Utu is a 1983 New Zealand war film about the New Zealand Wars. Co-written and directed by Geoff Murphy, the films stars Anzac Wallace, Bruno Lawrence, Tim Eliott, Ilona Rodgers, Wi Kuki Kaa and Merata Mita, and depicts the story of a Māori warrior who sets out on a quest for "utu". Inspired by the events of Te Kooti's War, the film is set in 1870 in the North Island and has been described as a New Zealand Western.

Production

Utu was one of the largest film productions to have taken place in New Zealand until that point. Its grand scale warranted the use of a large second unit, which again was rare in the context of a young New Zealand cinema industry. Wallace prior to being cast as Te Wheke had some experience acting on television.

Murphy was interested in authenticity, trying to keep it as period-accurate as possible. To accomplish this many of the extras were local Maori and in order for Te Wheke's moko to look realistic, Anzac Wallace would spend 4 hours having it applied each day of shooting.

In a likely New Zealand record, the film amassed a thousand-strong army comprising c.900, mainly school children extras, dressed with masking tape, rolled sacks, cardboard boxes and hats.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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