Mahana

Mahana is a 2016 New Zealand drama film directed by Lee Tamahori, and written by John Collee, based on the novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies by Witi Ihimaera. It was released as The Patriarch outside New Zealand. Plot The film tells the story of two Māori families, the Mahanas and the Poatas, who are bitter rivals. The enmity purportedly dates back to Tamihana Mahana falling in love with Ramona and rescuing her from her betrothed, Rupeni Poata, who she did not want to marry. By the late 1950s, Tamihana is the patriarch of the Mahana clan and runs a successful sheep shearing family business in the Gisborne District, while his headstrong grandson Simeon chafes under Tamihana's authoritarian rule. As punishment for making snide remarks during the family's dinner prayer, Tamihana assigns Simeon household chores. While cleaning his grandmother's study, Simeon discovers a photograph of Ramona and Rupeni as a couple. Later, Simeon shows the photo to his mother Huria and his aunts. Huria chides her son for digging into family history and claims that his grandmother could not stand Rupeni. Simeon later asks his grandmother about the photograph, who is reluctant to talk about the matter but remarks that "men fight for what they want". The following day, Tamihana assigns Simeon the task of transporting a slain sheep to his family at a distant shearing station. On the way, Simeon discovers Ramona's abandoned homestead. At the shearing station, Simeon learns that the Mahana shearers have sufficient meat supplies and that his grandfather sent him on a pointless errand. When Simeon vents his resentment towards his grandfather, his mother reminds him that Tamihana is the source of their livelihood.