This was a good length at 2 hours in duration and easy Sunday night viewing; not too taxing on the brain but great fun to watch. In the tradition of comedy-dramas, where the big city boy is transformed by the charm and depth of connection experienced in a small town, this movie is delightfully and deceptively clever entertainment, that emulates Local Hero Local Hero being a film that remains the most outstanding example the genre, but that is also one of the best movies ever made.
Character driven, strongly acted, intelligently directed and well edited, there is nothing heavy handed or over done. The humour is disarming esp that of the Ma'ori characters similar tot hat seen more recently in Boy , and the plot unfolds easily, assuming the audience's perception. Martin Clunies, oddly, is perfectly cast as the misfit romantic hero, delivering his lines with suitable dryness.
However, the standout is the Ma-ori characters of the movie: Martin Clunes plays the part of Alan Bennett, an English museum curator who is charged to go to New Zealand and arrange the return of an ancestral carving. However, it is not in the interest of the Museum in England to return the head, and Alan Bennett's main task is to prevent this happening. He arrives in New Zealand where he is introduced to Maori culture.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. As a New Zealander of European descent I found the cultural aspect of the film interesting. I learned more about the culture of the Maori than I had known before. The movie was well put together, and the actors were believable in their parts. The comic aspect was well handled and the New Zealand scenery beautiful. The story is set in London and New Zealand. They are missing a carving of an ancestor's head, the head is in the museum where our hero works.
They claim its non-presence in the tribal village is causing them continuous bad luck, from poor fishing to losing ever rugby match in the local league. His job promotion as assistant manager at the museum is on the line as he has to negotiate with the Maori, to whom the head belongs, and persuade them that the carving of the ancestral head is better off in the museum in London.
Whilst he is away she is organising her wedding, something he wants as little to do with as possible. He starts having weird dreams.
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In New Zealand he finds his stay extended due to a sudden death of one of the tribe. It is not until the wake is over that he can concentrate the business in hand. On the Maori side, despite their adamance in having the head back, they treat our hero with respect and he in turn "fills in" by replacing the school bus driver who had died and takes some classes at the village school.
Here he discovers that the school teacher was having much the same dreams as he and inevitably develops feelings for her. At the same time, the local policeman, who is trying to woo her by stopping her car, keeps reminding our hero that he is on a limited visa only and tells him how many days he has left. At the numerous council meetings with the Maori, punctuated by calls back to London on his mobile the only place he can get a decent reception is up a hill overlooking the village he tells the Maori that they can only have their head back if they can keep it in a museum style environment.
The Man Who Lost His Head by Claire Huchet Bishop
Our hero knows he is stalling, but nonetheless the Maori invest in a large portakabin to serve as the museum. Further niggles about having lighting and humidity and temperature control are met by the Maori investing in a power supply and the necessary equipment. When the work is completed, they even have an opening ceremony in the new museum building until they are called away to the main meeting house as one of their tribe is appearing on TV as a stand up comedian at that very moment.
Whilst everyone was watching the show in the meeting house a strong wind whips up and the ancestral tree, under which the museum has been placed, falls on the museum. The same tree also brings down the overhead electricity wires and in turn the museum goes up in flames. At this stage our hero makes his departure but not before the local teacher finding him out and telling him what she thinks of him. Back in London he realises he cannot go ahead with the wedding nor can he put up being employed by his future father-in-law. He realises that his wishes are different to those from the museum. At the wedding ceremony, which takes place at the museum, at the moment when the vows are exchanged he states that he cannot marry his betrothed.
She and her guests leave in disgust, leaving him on his own with the wedding buffet until one of the museum staff, who had not been invited to the wedding, joins him. He is shown the new display of exhibits that been arranged in his absence, to reflect a Pacific Islands theme. He looks at the head in its display position he notices some replicas on sale. As soon as possible our hero returns to New Zealand where he arrives during the night.
He has with him the disputed head. The following day the tribal head is placed on its perch in the meeting house. At this point the contractors who had supplied them with the portakabin demanded their money.
As the Maori do not have any cash on them what ensues is best described as a ruck using the head instead of a ball. The skirmish stops when the head splits open to reveal a hidden pouch that is full of diamonds. The tribe's bad luck has been reversed. Back in London they notice that there has been a spate of sales of the replica heads. The village people see the man with a parsnip head. He goes to the woodshed and takes a log and carves a wooden head and makes a face while he sandpapers and polishes it. He removes the parsnip head and puts on the wooden head. This is the perfect head made of wood for a man.
He goes to the fair for a perfect head. He wins the cup and goes on the merry-go-round.
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He sees the wild animals and touches the tiger. The tiger roars at the man with a wooden head. The man sits down at the bench and has a plan for parts of the head. The boy goes to the man at the bench. The man goes home in his pajamas in his bed and adds hair for his own head.
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