White Lies (film score)
Overview
White Lies - Tuakiri Huna is a 2013 New Zealand film directed by Dana Rotberg and stars Whirimako Black, Antonia Prebble, and Rachel House. It is based on the novella Medicine Woman by Witi Ihimaera. Regarded as an excellent portrayal of colonial oppression in New Zealand, the film deals with the impacts of the Tohunga Suppression Act upon Māori traditions surrounding childbirth.[2][3]
The story is about a medicine woman Paraiti, who is approached by Maraea, the servant of wealthy woman, Rebecca Vickers, to perform an abortion.[4] Unbeknownst to Paraiti, Maraea has hidden plans. The unborn baby becomes the central figure in the story, as the women are forced to reconcile their differing perspectives and confront their own expectations of motherhood, life and death.[5]
The film premiered in New Zealand cinemas on 27 June 2013.[6] It screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.[7][8] The film was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards.[9]
The music to White Lies has been released as a 28-minute piece for piano and taonga puoro created from the score composed for the film.
Based on the novella ‘Medicine Woman’ by Witi Ihimaera, the film was written and directed by Dana Rotberg for South Pacific Pictures, and features Rattle recording artist Whirimako Black in her feature film debut in the central role of Paraiti.
"The composition is a very delicate, poignant composition that slowly evolves, opening and closing, rising and falling, steadily moving through a very touching emotional landscape. Emma Sayers and Richard Nunns perform with great empathy and tenderness, negotiating the relatively simple motifs with impressive restraint and emotional understatement.
Composed and produced by John Psathas, featuring Richard Nunns (taonga puoro), Emma Sayers (piano), Sasha Gachenko & Matt Cave (bass), Rowan Prior & Paul Mitchell (cello), Konstanze Artmann & Irina Andreeva (viola), Kate Oswin & Matthew Ross (violin), John Psathas (synthesizer), mixed by Steve Garden and John Psathas, designed by UnkleFranc"
Plot
As a young girl Paraiti, witnesses the brutal killing of her family by European settlers in a conflict that leaves a permanent scar on her cheek.[10] Many years later, Paraiti, lives a semi-nomadic existence in the rural Te Urewera region of New Zealand, and is working underground as a medicine woman and healer.[10] In 1907, the New Zealand government passed the Tohunga Suppression Act to outlaw natural healing for Māori. Forbidden from practicing her traditional healing arts and using native medicine under the act, Paraiti endeavours to care for her people in strict secrecy.[10] It is later revealed that Paraiti trains pregnant young women in birthing procedures and secretly uses a variety of herbs and plants to apply ancient healing methods to her patients.[11]
On a rare visit to town, Paraiti is approached by Maraea, the Māori housekeeper of a wealthy white woman named Rebecca Vickers (Antonia Prebble).[12] Rebecca is pregnant and seeks to terminate the pregnancy before her wealthy husband, a businessman, returns from an extended absence in Europe.[11] Paraiti would be paid handsomely for her services and discretion, provided she could perform the abortion in less than a week's time.[11] Initially, Paraiti refuses to help, but changes her mind when a young Māori girl and her unborn baby die at the hands of a white nurse.[10] The scene has been described as a harrowing turning point for Paraiti, as she is forced to retrieve the whenua (placenta) of the stillborn child from a rusted garbage can in order to return it to her land and people.[13] Paraiti decides to help Rebecca as her way of “restoring some justice”, although it is unclear exactly what she means.[10]
Mrs Vickers is an "imperious snob" who shows obvious disdain towards Paraiti and her “ancient ways.”[10] Maraea proves an even greater adversary, refusing to speak to Paraiti in their native language and speaking down to her.[10] Nevertheless, Paraiti remains stoic. As the week progresses, Paraiti begins to uncover hidden secrets within the house, while revealing her own plan for justice.[10] The pivotal turning point occurs when it is revealed that Maraea is Rebecca's mother and has been bleaching her skin daily since childhood to ensure her survival in a white world.[3] The birth of the baby would reveal her true identity to her husband and to society.
Rebecca gives birth on the clay floor of the cellar under the house, surrounded by Paraiti and Maraea.[3]
Screenplay and adaptation
In the extras of the DVD, Witi Ihimaera tells how his mother took him to Paraiti, a tohunga/healer who cured him of a breathing problem. In writing the story, he wanted to honour the various tohunga in Māori life.
The screenplay for the film was adapted from Witi Ihimaera's 2007 novella 'Medicine Woman', found in the collection Ask The Posts of the House.[14] The screenwriter and director of the film, Dana Rotberg, has described the novella as "a perfect piece of storytelling", which "contained complexity, was generous in its understanding of human drama and had a delightful sense of humour."[15] Describing her inspiration to adapt the novella, Rotberg has stated: "The story would not leave my mind. It kept visiting me while I was driving on the motorway, when falling asleep, while cooking … Paraiti, the medicine woman, was a stubborn presence who refused to leave and I became haunted by her."[15]
Throughout the process of adaptation, Rotberg was careful to respect and honour the Māori story at the centre of the narrative. Born and raised in Mexico, Rotberg moved to New Zealand in 2002 after watching Whale Rider, a film also based on a story by Ihimaera.[16] Rotberg worked closely with cultural advisors Kararaina Rangihau, Tangiora Tawhara and Whitiaua Ropitini, and claimed that the advisors formed an "integral part"[17] of the scriptwriting and production process, and that “[e]very word was approved."[17] She also read prodigiously about Tuhoe and spent time in Te Urewera in preparation for the film.[18]
The film has been commended as a "sincere, heartfelt attempt to enter into and convey a Maori story told through Maori eyes" that is "doubly commendable because it is written and directed by a film-maker who was born, and learned her craft, in Mexico."[19]
Rotberg has stated that she felt “privileged” to be “guided by people who know the Māori culture from deep within."[20] She has stated:
“…I would never have shot anything if I had not have had the approval, the blessing and the participation of the people who were hosting us – culturally, logistically and in terms of location. I worked with these people for a number of years before the final script was brought to production.”[17]
Rotberg has also spoken of a deep personal connection with Ihimaera's novella, and has stated that the story spoke to her in a way that transcended boundaries of race and culture. While careful to adapt the script with cultural integrity, Rotberg felt compelled to infuse the story with her own identity "as a filmmaker and as a human being."[20]
“I felt [there] was a clear sign that the story told by Witi Ihimaera was speaking to me from places other than where the original work had come from. Places that belonged to my intimate family history and my most unresolved conflicts as a person in the world. It was a call from the core of my origins to look for answers that mattered to me, being myself a half-caste, a woman, a mother and a descendant of people who have been eternal immigrants or brutally colonised by others. A call coming from every drop of the Mexican, Jewish, Catholic, Polish, indigenous, Italian, Spanish and Russian blood that runs through my veins. The blood of my tipuna. My very own whakapapa.”[15]
Embarking on the process of adaptation, Rotberg asked Ihimaera for "freedom and independence from him an author" to transform Medicine Woman into the final screenplay for White Lies - Tuakiri Huna.[21] She made several marked changes to the novella's original storyline. In the original novella, Maraea is subject to Rebecca's wishes.[22] In the film, however, Maraea is conceived as the "puppet-master" of the story, pulling strings and controlling the actions of the other female protagonists.[4] Importantly, in the film, Paraiti decides to save the unborn child prior to finding out its true identity. Rotberg believed this to be of great importance, claiming it would illustrate a greater storyline of humanity and redemption.[22]
Find out more about the film here
Soundtrack on Youtube
Full movie available for free on Youtube
Director: Dana Rotberg
Screenwriter: Dana Rotberg
Author: Witi Ihimaera
Company: South Pacific Pictures
Staring: Whirimako Black
Producer: John Psathas
Musicians: Richard Nunns (taonga puoro), Emma Sayers (piano), Sasha Gachenko & Matt Cave (bass), Rowan Prior & Paul Mitchell (cello), Konstanze Artmann & Irina Andreeva (viola), Kate Oswin & Matthew Ross (violin), John Psathas (synthesizer),
Mixing: Steve Garden and John Psathas,
Design: UnkleFranc
Released: 28 June 2013
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