{"id":31212,"date":"2025-05-07T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=31212"},"modified":"2025-05-20T22:45:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:45:02","slug":"in-we-were-dangerous-maori-actress-rima-te-wiata-is-a-commanding-presence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=31212","title":{"rendered":"In “We Were Dangerous,” M\u0101ori Actress Rima Te Wiata is a Commanding Presence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Exclusive Q&A By Brad Balfour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the nation of New Zealand may seem like a far-off isolated place, disconnected from much of the world, it is in fact a fount of creative filmmaking, and a major global cinematic center. Much of that is thanks to filmmaker Peter Jackson whose mega blockbusters such as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and WETA, his special effects company, have had such an enduring impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s Oscar-winning actor\/director Taika Waititi of partial Maori descent who has had the further effect of spotlight his country and his tribal connection. The M\u0101ori are Polynesian tribespeople who arrived in New Zealand more than a thousand years ago. Today, M\u0101ori culture is a vibrant part of the island nation (actually three islands), with over 700,000 M\u0101ori there. They’re known for elaborate face tattoos and a ritual warrior dance called the Haka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, a recently released film from New Zealand, \u201cWe Were Dangerous,\u201d spotlights a concern with the mistreatment of indigenous and other outliers showcased by several other films such as the recent award winning documentary \u201cSugarcane,\u201d \u201cThe Magdalene Sisters,\u201d and \u201cRabbit Proof Fence.\u201d Each film has addressed the terrible ways that native people or wayward youth have been treated in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the film, it\u2019s 1954 and M\u0101ori teenager Nellie (Erana James) is sent by her family to Christchurch to live with a relative after her hometown\u2019s meatworks closes down. Unable to find her relative, Nellie befriends another female M\u0101ori teen named Daisy (Anaia Hall) who has escaped several foster homes after experiencing abuse. After being arrested for shoplifting, the two girls are sent to the Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Matron (Rima Te Wiata), a devout M\u0101ori woman who has grown up in a Christian orphanage, attempts to reprogram the girls into subservient housewives and mothers. The Matron believes that the British brought Christianity to civilize the M\u0101ori people. They are joined by a third girl \u2014 a more middle class and educated one \u2014 who had been caught by her father with another girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s a tough, if not futile, act to try and reprogram these girls. As they resist in direct and not so direct ways, the Matron gets more severe. The girls react with an escape attempt \u2014one that may or may not succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her directorial debut, Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu \u2014 with a screenplay by Maddie Da \u2014 chose many of her cast from local people. But it also stars noted actress Rima Te Wiata, and up-and-comer Erana James,  who make their presence felt. Wiata is a well-known British-born New Zealand singer, comedian and stage, film and television talent. She\u2019s also notable for a career in Australia, especially her long-running recurring role as Janice Reid in 204 episodes of the soap opera, \u201cSons and Daughters.\u201d  Te Wiata also released a self-titled jazz album and toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aforementioned Waititi and Carthew Neal serve as its executive producers. The film had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 8, 2024 where it won the Special Jury Award for Filmmaking in 2024. It was released in New Zealand on August 22, 2024. Now, this May, it\u2019s getting a New York release at Village East and national distribution beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019ve been working a lot in New Zealand. How was it to come to the States and premiere a film here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It\u2019s a real honor to be invited over here. We\u2019ve been to LA, premiered there, and then did the preview in New York. Unfortunately, I only had one day in LA and one night. Then I had to fly to New York and now I\u2019ve got to go again. I went to MoMA and Central Park, which was fantastic, but I\u2019ve got to leave later\u2014 way too soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: This isn\u2019t just about New Zealand or Australia. What\u2019s been done to aboriginal people and young rebellious women in those days was terrifying. When you got this job, did you look into it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I knew that we\u2019ve always had abuse in our systems. You\u2019ve had it here. It happens everywhere in systems that are supposed to be protecting people. There usually is abuse unless you\u2019ve got your eyes open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: The phenomenon of native, aboriginal people, or people who were poor and not part of the system \u2014 especially if they violated the social norms which were very rigid by our standards today \u2014 were sent to places like this school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It depends on how fortunate you were with your upbringing and whether you needed to go to these places where they thought they had to reform you from being a delinquent. Actually, I went to a very strict school. I knew these types of people, but I never got into that sort of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Was it a Catholic school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No, it wasn\u2019t. It was a Christian school in London, a state school. I was born over there [in London], even though my parents are New Zealanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Your father was an opera singer. What did your mother do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: She was an actress and a writer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019re of Maori descent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Dad was Maori and mum was Pakeha, which is a white New Zealander. You\u2019d be Pakeha if you came over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: As a kid growing up in England, you weren\u2019t a wayward youth going around sleeping with boys?
Rima Te Wiata: I was only a little weenie girl. It was prior to being eight. Once you hit puberty, that\u2019s it. It happens in every single country. You have to keep your eyes open and not fully trust people who seem to be angelic. Keep your eyes open and make sure that they\u2019re not telling fibs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: In playing this role, what did you learn about the mentality of a woman like her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I talked to a number of people who had gone through being abused in these facilities. I learned from that. A lot of people came up afterwards and said, I\u2019ve got a couple of people last night saying I went to a Catholic one. They were exactly like my character. Exactly like that. It seems to be an international personality type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t want to play her from the perspective of being a smart aleck, judging my character. I had to find reasons why she was like that. I could have empathy because every character feels, when you\u2019re playing a character, that they\u2019re doing the right thing. That\u2019s what makes it disquieting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: There was a flashback suggesting she was abused when she was younger. The flashback informs the audience and creates a degree of sympathy for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I wanted them to have a little wrestle with that because I knew everybody would hate her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Even though there\u2019s not a much of a glimpse of the men of that era in this film, it\u2019s terrible to think of what men did to women. Talk about your own thoughts about the men of that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: The men of that era? They\u2019re also parroting what they\u2019ve been taught. It\u2019s unfortunate, isn\u2019t it, if people have been taught that. Then that\u2019s what they think is the right thing. Even though it\u2019s ghastly, it\u2019s actually quite funny. Some of the lines in this film are quite funny. They\u2019re just so sexist, it\u2019s unbelievable. They\u2019re saying it so straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Did this give you a different perspective on your own Maori history and experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It did. Watching my character who had really obeyed the system that she\u2019d grown up in, because we decided that she\u2019d gone through a foster care program. My character, that\u2019s what she went through. She\u2019s never been out of an institution. She\u2019s just gone straight back into the system once she left it to become a teacher and a matron. She\u2019s never been in the real world. She\u2019s only known that world. She\u2019s been obedient her whole life and is a tyrant who doesn\u2019t realize she is in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: It\u2019s the old cycle of, if you\u2019ve been abused, you abuse others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Not all the time, though, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s true of absolutely everyone.\u2028\u2028Q: Depending on the level of isolation. In her case, she was very isolated for many years. The institution also exaggerates the abuse you might experience because of the fact that you were isolated from many other options or opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: That\u2019s right. Isolation from options and opportunities is what keeps people caught in the cycle because they\u2019re not meeting others who\u2019ve with different perspectives on life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You come from a Maori background. Have you experienced some level of prejudice, even though you don\u2019t appear to be Maori? No tattoos?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I have. [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Oh really? You do? Not the face tattoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No, no, no. No moko, the sort of traditional moko.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you speak the Maori language?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: A little bit. I\u2019m not fluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you feel a degree of the pride in having been through it all and now being able to express your Maori history and Maori background in a different light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: In terms of film in New Zealand, we\u2019ve had a lot of different angles and different stories about Maori history. It\u2019s been amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you think it\u2019s compensation for the lack in New Zealand itself? They didn\u2019t have a lot of focus on Maori history and education until more recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Not really. There wasn\u2019t really a big focus on it. Not that I remember from when I was at school, high school there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019ve seen films like \u201cOnce Were Warriors\u201d and \u201cWhale Rider\u201d and all that. Do you think that there\u2019s enough compensation for the years of neglect and second class citizenship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No, we want more. But you can learn that. I can see you enjoyed that bit. [laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I did enjoy that bit, where the girls do a Maori chant. I related it to where there was a haka done somewhere in sports that was really\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: [We do that] In rugby before matches. [laughing]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How have attitudes changed in New Zealand in terms of the relationship between the white and Maori communities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It depends where you are in the country, your community size and how people relate in different areas as a whole while looking at the entire country, which is of course in these two different islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Where are you from the north or the south?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I live in the North Island and there\u2019s a South Island. Then there\u2019s a tiny little island down the bottom called Stewart Island. So, it\u2019s actually three islands. It depends where you are in the country. We\u2019ve got racial tension in our country. Definitely. Quite a lot of problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Of course, the Maori community is the disenfranchised one. It doesn\u2019t get enough money or education even to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: That\u2019s sometimes seen by the other side as you can\u2019t spoil them. You can\u2019t, all that sort of thing. You get this tension that\u2019s always there. I\u2019ve noticed even being here, it just feels much lighter. Even on the subway yesterday I went, wow, this is really \u2026 it doesn\u2019t feel discontented. People don\u2019t feel discontent. You can\u2019t sense it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: We have more languages and people in one subway train than 90% of the countries around the world or the United States for that matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It\u2019s so many different cultures that people just go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Were all the girls, all the actors, of Maori descent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Not all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: The one girl that was, of course, the daughter of the doctor \u2013\u2013 she wouldn\u2019t be. But it seems strange that she got thrown into this crowd and she adapted fairly well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: She did. [chuckling] But she was a bit naughty, wasn\u2019t she? She had a propensity for being naughty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: She could have sucked up to you and won you over. But she realized that that wasn\u2019t going to satisfy her in the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No. Also she realized that she\u2019d become very unpopular with the other girls, but it was community casting. We had the three lead girls who are women, even though they are sort of girls in the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: They\u2019re teens in the movie but most of them were not teens, I guess. Except the young couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: The youngest one, she turned 14 during the shoot. And the others were community cast. So that means you go out and you audition girls from around the region where you are shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Did you spur a whole new group of actors? Are they all planning on becoming actors now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: They actually really want to get into different areas of [filmmaking] not just acting. Some of them want to learn how to be a DOP. They want to be, yeah, all these different things. They want to get into costume. They learned a lot of things while they were watching what everybody does. Like, \u201cGee, I\u2019d really enjoy doing that.\u201d They\u2019ve decided to take courses on those things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: The lead girl in the film, Erana James, is 26. She was born in New Zealand, but spent a lot of time working in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: She\u2019s been working in Australia for quite a while now.
Q: You were supposed to be so opposed to each other. Did you ever get a chance to bond with her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I already knew her from a different show. That was good. We get on very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: There was an element to this beyond just the Maori versus Pakeha. This was also older women versus younger women. How was it to negotiate that? You\u2019re dealing with a whole crew of younger actors. How did they relate to you, and what did they ask you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: First-time actors as well, a lot of them. I wanted to keep things fresh, and so did the director. The director and I talked to each other about it. We thought it was better that I didn\u2019t get too friendly with them because they\u2019d become too familiar and not get the little jumps of fright that they might need when I suddenly shout out of the blue. I was allowed to improvise some little bits, and you could see that they\u2019re really, really focused. They actually don\u2019t know what I\u2019m going to say. Yeah. That kept them off guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Afterwards, were they looking at you as a role model?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I think they respected me. They\u2019d seen me on other things. I was in this film [directed by Waititi], \u201cHunt for the Wilderpeople,\u201d which they\u2019d all said was their generation\u2019s thing. They go, \u201cOh man, you are Auntie Bella. Wow.\u201d But once they got over that, they were fine. In New Zealand, that\u2019s who I am. I\u2019m just Auntie Bella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Pretty much you can walk down the streets in Auckland?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No, not without someone going, \u201cHey, Auntie Bella. Waaa!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019re based in Auckland now? Auckland is on the northern island. And Christchurch is the southern island?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Yes, that\u2019s right. Have you been to New Zealand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: No, but I did interview Peter Jackson for \u201cKing Kong.\u201d I guess Jackson is like the Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese of New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: He\u2019s our Steven Spielberg. That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: He\u2019s that, but he\u2019s also an indie director. He did the movie with the two young women early on in his career. He did several independent films, and also did a horror film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: \u201cHeavenly Creatures\u201d is fantastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: He covers all of the ground. There are new directors, like your director? Talk about meeting her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu is amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: She\u2019s also Maori?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Yes, she is. She just had a baby. That\u2019s why she\u2019s not here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: How did you connect with her and your experience with her?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I actually find her an extraordinary young director. This is her first feature film. But when I went for the read-through of the first draft, which I was invited to do. I just went and read it. I hadn\u2019t got the part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You didn\u2019t have to do an audition?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I did in the end. I did two auditions to get [the role]. It\u2019s fair. But this was just a read of the whole script with people who were just offering to do it. I must say that the others weren\u2019t in it in the end, but you\u2019ve got to have a read to hear what it sounds like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You had met her before you got cast but you hadn\u2019t known her from outside? What did she do before this? She was in the film world, obviously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: She made a short film and was an actress as well. She\u2019d been writing and wrote a play which I had read. Actually. it hadn\u2019t been staged. But I read the play and thought it was really good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019re a star in New Zealand. You came to New Zealand before you started this, but did you go back to London to do anything? You were a theater star, aren\u2019t you, in New Zealand?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: No. You\u2019re making me out to be a lot bigger than I am. I\u2019ll let you do that [more cackling].<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019ve been a theater director as well. Are you going back to doing theater, or do you want to make another film?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I\u2019m doing theater at the moment. Actually. I\u2019m doing \u201cMurder on the Orient Express,\u201d the Agatha Christie murder mystery. It\u2019s now a play being adapted by Ken Ludwig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Maybe you\u2019ll have a chance to come to New York and do it here. Did you ever think about moving to New York and getting parts here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Well, that\u2019d be amazing, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You have to have something created that casts a New Zealand woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: How the hell do you go about doing that? If you know how to do that, you can tell me later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Has this opened up your eyes about coming back to New York?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I\u2019m furious that I haven\u2019t got more time here. There\u2019s so much to see and do, and it\u2019s a very, very exciting city. And just being here for such a short amount of time is driving me crazy. I want to squash everything in, but you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you think there\u2019ll be a chance they\u2019ll bring you back if this gets on a streamer and goes from being in a theater?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I don\u2019t know. You\u2019ll have to ask. No, you tell them. Tell them that. Bring her back for the streamers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: The big hope is getting people to see the film. I don\u2019t know how hard it is to get them to see a film from New Zealand, but there is a certain cach\u00e9 to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: It\u2019s been really good. People have really responded extremely well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You won awards at South by Southwest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Josephine did for the film. She won the Special Jury Award for Filmmaking 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: That\u2019s fantastic. South by Southwest is one of the most important festivals in the United States, one of the top 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: That\u2019s right. Pretty amazing for your first feature to get that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: This is an important trend that they\u2019re trying to reveal. In the age of Trump, this needs to be done even more. I\u2019m sure as a New Zealander, you and the Maori, you definitely aren\u2019t on the side of\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: We watch with awe what happens in America. It\u2019s just extraordinary all the time. Good and bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: I\u2019m sad that both of us miss the big protest (Hands Off \u2013 April 5). I was not feeling well earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: I saw bits of it on the news and went, \u2018My God, it\u2019s all happening while I\u2019m here. It is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You\u2019ve done this film and it\u2019s opened up your eyes. Did you look at other films that deal with the same subject? You could be a nurse Ratched from \u201cOne Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: Updated. That\u2019s right. Louise Fletcher was [the actress] It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Do you have further thoughts on your experience? You didn\u2019t go to South by Southwest. Was New York\u2019s screening the first experience you had to meet Americans who [saw the film]?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: We went to LA first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Talk about your experience with people seeing this and not knowing that this had happened elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rima Te Wiata: They [gave] really, really positive feedback. It was fantastic. I saw that it doesn\u2019t matter with our little film that we shot around Governor\u2019s Bay in the South Island, this tiny little area. I just couldn\u2019t believe that it resonates with people. The story travels through and still gets through to people despite our strong New Zealand accents and idiosyncratic things. People just get it. It\u2019s fantastic.<\/p>\n

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