New Zealand Cinema

New Zealand Cinema

New Zealand has often been represented as a place of exploration and adventure, a Utopian god-like environment that connotes a sense of freedom through the vast open land and wildlife. The myth of New Zealand as a utopia came about in order to draw attention to the country, to introduce New Zealand to the world and build the population. This false representation is still used as a selling point for the country. For example, there are frequent visits to the beautiful locations in which the Lord Of The Rings films were shot.
However, the New Zealand film industry rejects this stereotype of a ‘pastoral paradise’ through its depictions of horror, despair and murder. Characters are dysfunctional and isolated from the rest of the world in a landscape that is ‘alive’ and on the edge of civilisation.

The term the 'Kiwi Gothic' devised by Ian Conrich encompasses this idea and genre of film and can be compared to that of the gothic novel. Disturbing and gothic imagery and landscapes and similarly used in German Expressionism.

Films from New Zealand often show the mundane and boring routines of families, however, entrapping imagery is used to depict the harsh lifestyle and isolated landscape. Films such as Vigil, Kitchen Sink, Once Were Warriors and The Piano demonstrate this to create a sense of unease. For example, in Once Were Warriors the characters are shown to be trapped in the segregated and deprived urban location through shots of busy roads, door frames and small, cramped spaces.

The 1994 film Once Were Warriors largely deals with issues of child abuse, violence, alcoholism and loss of identity in order to bring the issues faced by the Maori people into the light. The dynamic of the family is highly flawed. The men largely conform to the stereotype of masculinity and the 'hard-bodied hero', choosing violence over rational thought and believing they have the authority.
The female characters are trapped by the threatening patriarchal figures and gangs who have lost their way of life and resort to domestic violence and rape.
Both the women and children are physically and mentally abused by the men and are restricted in many ways. They are treated as objects for daily tasks and sex, such as in the scene in which Beth is beaten by Jake. If they were to reject them in any way, they would be brutally abused. 
The only scene is which the entire family is portrayed as happy together is when they leave to visit Boogie; further solidifying the urban ghetto as a place of entrapment.

These characters traits are also visible in The Piano where Alisdair resorts to domestic violence towards Ada and cuts off her finger for being unfaithful.

Once Were Warriors opens with a beautiful shot of the lake and mountains of New Zealand, conforming to the stereotypes of the country but proceeds to pull back to reveal that it is in fact just a billboard in a gritty urban area, immediately drawing contrast between fantasy and reality. The film also lacks colour and greenery, which is ordinarily seen as traditional of the land there.

Overall, New Zealand cinema can largely be described as both disturbing and sinister, rejecting the myth of the New Zealand as a land of freedom and a romantic paradise. Although there are films that fall more into the comedy genre rather than crime and horror and are similar to that of the Hollywood mainstream, like that of the 2016 film Hunt For The Wilderpeople these films still demonstrate hidden dark undertones.