# Once Were Warriors

Once Were Warriors is a 1994 New Zealand film about a family descended from Maori warriors who is bedeviled by a violent father and the societal problems of being treated as outcasts.
    Directed by Lee Tamahori. Written by Riwia Brown, based on Alan Duff's bestselling first book by the same name.

## Beth Heke

* Our people once were warriors. But unlike you, Jake, they were people with mana, pride; people with spirit. If my spirit can survive living with you for eighteen years, then I can survive anything.

## Jake "The Muss" Heke

* Cook the man some fuckin' eggs!
* I bought seafood today - bloody everything! Just wanted to put a smile on her face. Think she'd let me? Not a chance. All I said was that I got laid off. Anybody would've thought I'd told her my prick had dropped off!
* Barman! 6 milkshakes, easy on the ice-cream.
* You're a fuckin' mess! Don't you ever speak to me again, you hear?
* [after beating up a patron] I was right. Too much weights, not enough speedwork. Useless prick.
* [reading about Grace's rape in her diary, clearly shocked] Uncle Bully... [begins trembling with rage] UNCLE FUCKIN' BULLY!!!

## Dialogue

    Te Tupaea: If you want to smash things, boy, you start with me! You think you're man enough to hold a taiaha, boy?
    Boogie: I hate this fucking place!
    Te Tupaea: You're not supposed to like it!
    Boogie: Let me go, you black bastard!
    Te Tupaea: We are the same colour, boy! The British used to think the bayonet was the most lethal of all hand-to-hand combat weapons, till they came across our warriors, who fought with a taiaha. You think your fist is your weapon? When I have taught you, your mind will be. You'll carry your taiaha inside you.
    Beth Heke: [about Boogie] He's gone! He's gone to welfare! And you slept through the whole bloody thing.
    Jake Heke: Is that all? Is that what all this slamming of fucking doors, crying and carrying on is about?
    Jake Heke: You're still a bloody attractive woman, you know.
    Beth Heke: What? After you take after me with your fists? Make me sick.
    Beth Heke: You raped a 13 year old girl and sat here drinking with her father while the rest of us buried her!
    Bully: You should learn to control your Missus.
    Beth Heke: Sneaking around the house laying your filthy fucking hands on my baby!
    Jake Heke: I'll kill you first!
    Beth Heke: Well go on, do it! You're still a slave Jake; to your fists, to the drink; to yourself. Well, go on; kill the bloody lot of us!
    Jake: Well fuck off then! You'll get nothing from me!
    Beth: You have nothing I want, Jake.
    Huata Heke: Where are we going mum?
    Beth Heke: We're going home.
    [they drive off in the car]
    Jake Heke: Oh fuck all that warrior shit! You'll be back, you'll fucking see! You need me! You fucking want me! You'll be back! Fuck you, Beth! Go on, go!

## Taglines

* Her only chance for the future is to embrace the power of her past.
* A family in crisis, a life in chaos... Nothing is more powerful than a mother's love.

## Cast

* Rena Owen — Beth Heke
* Temuera Morrison — Jake Heke
* Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell — Grace Heke
* Julian Arahanga — Nig Heke
* Taungaroa Emile — Boogie Heke
* Rachael Morris Jr. — Polly Heke
* Joseph Kairau — Huata Heke
* Cliff Curtis — Bully
* Pete Smith — Dooley
* George Henare — Bennett
* Mere Boynton — Mavis
* Shannon Williams — Toot

## External links

* Once Were Warriors quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Once Were Warriors at Rotten Tomatoes
* The official [http:// title] site