Rain of the Children

hello, nanny Puhi was my nanny, and Nikki was my uncle, we lived around the corner at Whakarae from them, after school or if I wanted to get away from Daddy that's where I would be even go for a feed. Po Nikiniki was mad but he was our mad family member, and we didn't call him a mental person, because we would have got a good kick up the ass, and that's saying it mildly. They were people who went around doing their own business, although nanny did all the hard work. She talked to herself, we as children laughed at the two of them, we would even tease them, but we were kids what did we know, I am a qualified Maori mental health support worker who now has a understanding of barriers that prevent unwell people getting better. I have a lot more respect for mentally challenged people. As a child I was so ashamed to call him my uncle and Puhi my nanny.

Many movie-going Kiwis are still recovering from Vincent Ward's 'Vigil' which plunged us all into a world of grim grey despair.

And still more of us have no trouble remembering how we felt leaving the movie theatre after watching Rena Owen in Once Were Warriers. That was grim too.

And now here they are, both together, telling another story which is not just grim, but downright sad.

But it's beautifully done. Ward has an eye for the detail of human frailty which somehow he manages to get up there on the big screen, whether he's recounting fact (like this story) or fiction.

It's just brilliant work and Rena, girl, you are all class.

I went to this movie with some reluctance, having endured the River Queen" I was hoping that Vincent Ward had got his mojo back. And he has. This story is a New Zealand story, but first and foremost its a Maori story. I am not Tuhoe, but I knew a bit about Kenana and the Uruweras. But this movie was wonderful, it has a myriad of themes that take you on different journeys, and the cinematography is beautiful. Vincent was respectful and did the family proud, producing a docu-drama that I believe is of award winning status. I loved this movie, I cant wait to get the DVD and buy it for all my family to watch. Thank you Vincent for this wonderful gift, Thank you Tuhoe, and thank you to the family of Puhi and Niki (wont let me write in Maori)