Film Review – Margaret – 28/9/00
If you want to see a fine example of New Zealand documentary film making and learn some of the truth about the Moriori people, go to see Feathers of Peace. It challenges viewers to think afresh about issues of peace, war, colonialism and slavery. It relates the history of the Moriori people on Rekohu, the Chatham Islands, 870 km (544 miles) east of New Zealand, a story tragically ending with the near destruction of the race.
The technique used to present the film is that of the modern documentary – interviews with key people involved in the action and shots of the sites. The black and white film is deliberately given a grainy consistency, especially in the earlier time sequences, to give a feeling of authenticity to the interviews with people from long ago.
The film opens with misty shots of the landscape as a background to the credits:
Director/Screenplay: Barry Barclay Producer: Ruth Kaupua-Panapa Photography: Michael O’Connor Editor: Bella Erikson Sound: Dick Reade Production designer: Guy Moana With Sonny Kirikiri, Calvin Tuteao, John Callen, Michael Lawrence, Star Gossage Voiceover commentary: Joanna Paul and Glynnis Paraha
The dialogue is recorded in English, Maori and Moriori with English subtitles.
The film acknowledges its indebtedness to Michael King’s book, Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989), which has shed new light on the original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands.
Most New Zealanders have been taught little about the Moriori except that they lived on the Chathams and that the last Moriori, Tommy Solomon, died in 1933. We were also taught that possibly they originally lived in New Zealand and escaped to the Chathams when defeated by the Maori invaders.
Interest in the Moriori people was rekindled by a television programme Moriori made by the late Bill Saunders and screened in 1980. In this documentary the research of academics was summarised and two of Solomon’s grandchildren were filmed visiting the Chathams. It corrected some of the misapprehension of New Zealanders, stating that the Moriori were from the same East Polynesian background as the Maori. They had a distinct culture, the most important aspect of which was their commitment to pacifism – a belief which led to their near-extermination.
The Moriori people, far from being non-existent after the death of Tommy Solomon, commissioned Michael King’s book Moriori: A People Rediscovered (1989). This book is to be republished in November 2000.
The next step in developing people’s awareness of the truth about this remarkable people is Feathers of Peace.
The film focuses on the contact of the Moriori with people from outside the Chathams – the visit of the brig Chatham in 1791, the impact of the sealers and European settlers, the Maori invasion in 1835, and the division of the land by the Crown court – the so-called ‘justice’ system.
The first section entitled The Running Man deals with the visit of the Chatham and presents a Moriori man, and Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, captain of the Chatham , and members of the crew, each giving their version of the events which led to the death of a young Moriori man. Lieutenant Broughton tells of the storm which caused his vessel to become separated from the Discovery under the command of Captain Vancouver. The commitment to peace by the Moriori taught by Nunuku long ago, and the significance of the feathers, are described by the Moriori man. “Killing is not our way”. We learn about the types of boats and fishing nets the Moriori used from the comments of the crew members. Failure to understand each other leads to shots being fired and the death of the Moriori man. A telling closing picture shows the body in the distance, lying on sand covered with footprints.
The next section is A Time for Planting , and we hear from Richard Freeman, a sealer who has settled on the island and married a Moriori woman. They have a baby and have begun growing crops.
The third section, A Purchase of Horses, deals with the Maori invasion. Barry Barclay, a Maori himself, makes no attempt to gloss over what happened. Two parties of Maori are taken in the brig Rodney to the Chathams and meet with no resistance from the Moriori. The Maori are sick on arrival and the Moriori tend the sick and bring them back to health. We hear of the meeting of leaders of the Moriori where the young advocate resistance but the elders persuade them not to abandon the teaching of Nunuku, and remind them that Nunuku has placed a curse on the people if they resort to violence. There is an irony in this, as the people suffer the fate that might arise from a curse. The children and many of the women are killed and fed to the dogs or eaten by the Maori. The rest of the people are enslaved.
The way violence was described, but not visually portrayed, in Feathers of Peace reminds me of Greek tragedy where violent events were described by a messenger. A missionary and Freeman’s first wife describe the sufferings of the Moriori. Meanwhile after his first wife has been enslaved Freeman has married a Maori woman and is farming land held by her tribe.
In Greek tragedy the chorus commented on the action, but in Feathers of Peace there is no commentator giving moral comment. We are left to draw our own conclusions about the violence and the injustices. The justification by clerics of the period regarding the use of slaves is certainly not ‘moral’ comment by modern standards.
The title of the section refers to the Maori purchases of horses. As some escaped into the unoccupied areas of the land, they bought more. They symbolise the changed culture on the island.
The last section of the film, A Balance of Justice, describes how the Moriori offered their land to the English queen and appealed to Governor Grey. We are shown the spokespeople at the Crown Court on the Chathams and the resulting blatantly unjust division of the land. The sealers had taken most of the seals. The Maori had taken huge quantities of eels and mutton birds back to New Zealand. The tiny allocation of land to Moriori was unproductive, so the native people were left largely without resources living at subsistence level.
To see this film is to gain some appreciation of what has happened to so many indigenous people in the era of colonisation. If you aren’t able to see it in a cinema watch for it in the television programmes. It is to be shown in New Zealand later this year.
