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September 01, 2022
Muru return to action roots for filmmaker
Adam Gifford
Posted On September 1, 2022
Download AudioA film loosely based on the 2007 Tuhoe Raids goes on general release today.
Director and co-producer Te Arepa Kahi says Muru is a response to the police targeting of what they thought were paramilitary camps run by activist Tame Iti, rather than a reenactment.
It also tries to put that in the context of a more than a century of crown attacks on Ngai Tuhoe, going back to the 1916 arrest of prophet Rua Kenana.
He says after a series of music-related documentaries, the film which pits community constable Cliff Curtis against a blinkered police hierarchy and a rogue cop is a return to some of his earliest film efforts such as the 2007 short film Taua.
“Coming back to the power of images, a bit of action, a bit of mystery, is sort of a return to my roots and being able to bring this type of scale and explosive storytelling was something we refined over the last two or three years,” Kahi says
He says platforms like Netflix means audiences are more likely to accept a film like Muru being predominantly in te reo Maori.
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