Whale Rider

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<tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1389 WIDTH="463"><div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> Whale Rider</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>êêêê</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="575"><div> Rating</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> PG-13</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Rated PG 13 for brief language and a momentary drug reference</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="575" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Director</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Nike Caro</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="575" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Riding the tide of change</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="575" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Starring</B></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div>  Keisha Castle-Hughes</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div>  Rawiri Paratene</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Vicky Haughton </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div>  Cliff Curtis</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> "Whale Rider," a story steeped in folklore, great beauty and spirituality, begins with birth and ends with a rebirth. Both events involve the engaging and charismatic girl child, Paikea. Pai's mother and twin brother die in childbirth. That's the problem, as her grandfather Koro (Rawiri Paratene) sees it. First, the name Paikea is reserved for the first-born son, due to carry on the traditions of the Whangara people. Folklore tells of Paikea, 1,000 years ago, riding the back of a whale to settle on this East Coast of New Zealand.</div> <bR> <div> Pai's father, Porourangi (Cliff Curtis), is devastated by his wife and son's deaths, and is reminded of the rejection he still feels as a first born son who turned his back on tradition by becoming an artist. He takes off, leaving Pai with her grandparents, Koro and Nanny (Vicky Haughton, in a flinty and wise portrayal). </div> <bR> <div> Eleven years pass and Koro is attached to his granddaughter Pai, portrayed with wisdom by first time actress Keisha Castle-Hughes. But his love for her is not enough to allow Koro to lay aside his conviction that a girl can not be included, as he sets up a school for training the boys of the village in the ways of the Maori ancestors. </div> <bR> <div> We know that Pai will eventually convince her grandfather that she is the one who hears the call of the Spirit of Paikea. The journey to that realization is captured exquisitely in the faces and performances of the cast, and the photographing of the light and the sky, the rock formations and the sea surrounding Whangara.  </div> <bR> <div> Koro comes to believe fully in an expression he uses with Pai, "we are strong, all together with all our strength." This is an inspiring, must see film.    </div> <div>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="681" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="677"><div> Pam Singleton © 2003</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="677"><div> <A HREF="Pam@reelmoviecritic.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pam@reelmoviecritic.com"><U><U>Pam@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>