Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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that in contrast to the colonial anxiety expressed in the depiction of threatening
landscapes, “Maori films are driven by identity, resolution and survival”. 692 The
ferocity of the elements in A State of Siege and the harshness of the landscape in Vigil
would seem to lend itself to this kind of postcolonial reading. As Jonathan Rayner
comments: “The voracity and antipathy of Ethan […] embodies the land’s adversarial
character towards those seeking to settle and exploit it”. 693
Sam Neill and Judy Rymer have no hesitation in including Vigil as an example of their
thesis that a sense of “unease” characterises New Zealand cinema. They focus not so
much on Vigil’s narrative or themes as on its general mood, conveyed through a
menacing landscape that functions “as a metaphor for a psychological interior”. 694
Although Neill and Rymer do not make European links, it is clear that this New Zealand
tradition could serve as a vehicle for Expressionist forms of art. This kind of
psychological reading seems more appropriate to Ward than to other New Zealand
filmmakers. He himself insists however, that his sense of landscape is animistic rather
than simply metaphorical: “Perhaps I’m a Romantic, but for me, this land has a real,
living presence. You can see it in the Maori names – mountains are named after real
people. We were filming in Uruti and the nearest town was Urenui – one means ‘big
penis’ the other means ‘little penis’. Urewera, where we shot Spring means ‘bird’s
penis’”. 695
If, as New Zealand reviewer Brent Lewis suggests, Vigil is “firmly rooted in the
country’s national cinema” and concerned with “the New Zealanders’ quest for an
identity”, this is a more complex notion of national identity than the “man alone”
version evident in earlier New Zealand films such as Bad Blood (although the character
of Ethan does have some resonances with that tradition). 696 On those occasions when
Ward has been willing to discuss his work in national terms, he has been at pains to
stress the complex or changing nature of the culture:
In the past five years, [New Zealand] has moved from an essentially pioneering
society obsessed with the values of necessity to a society which has values other
692 Merata Mita, "The Soul and the Image," Film in Aotearoa New Zealand, eds. Jonathan Denis and Jan
Bieringa (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1992) 4.
693 Rayner, "Paradise and Pandemonium," 43.
694 Neill and Rymer, Cinema of Unease, A Personal Journey by Sam Neill, 1995.
695 Dart, "Interview with Director, Vincent Ward," 92.
696 Lewis, "Kiwi Fruit Springs from a Hard Terrain."