Editorial: Power of Once Were Warriors lingers

"Once Were Warriors: Where Are They Now?" will screen on Maori Television on August 18 at 9.30pm.

Twenty years ago, I saw Once Were Warriors for the first time.

I'd read Alan Duff's book so I had an inkling of what to expect from the film version, but nothing could really have prepared me for the power and brutality of Lee Tamahori's movie.

I was blown away.

Never before had a film caused such a physical reaction in me - coming out of the cinema reeling, I felt hollow inside.

It was, still is, an incredibly powerful film that told a heartbreaking story and in its premise, indeed in its very title, raised questions of the Maori condition.

The film is in the news again this week with a documentary set to screen on Maori Television marking 20 years since its release.

It was fascinating to see the pictures of the cast then and now.

It's not necessarily pleasant to consider, but Once Were Warriors is a Rotorua story.

The film may have been set in a South Auckland urban wasteland, but the book it was based on was clearly set in Rotorua's Ford Block (now Fordlands - in the book it was Pine Block in the town of Two Lakes).

That's not to say its themes of domestic violence and cultural and social alienation can't be seen in any community, but the harrowing yet at times uplifting story of Jake and Beth Heke and their whanau struck a particular chord with me as a Rotorua local.

Plus there are the locals in the cast, including Temuera Morrison as Jake and Cliff Curtis as Uncle Bully, and author Alan Duff was born here.

Everyone involved in making Once Were Warriors - the book and the film - have created something amazing, a cultural phenomenon, a true work of art that is as powerful now as it was 20 years ago.

• Once Were Warriors: Where Are They Now? will screen on Maori Television on August 18 at 9.30pm.