once were warriors

once, a heck of a long time ago, i got my hands on the soundtrack to the movie "once were warriors". the closing theme is a guitar wankfest with maori chanting, and i've always loved it. for some reason, though, i never got around to watching the movie, until tonight.

it's not a happy movie, and in fact, the closest thing to happiness in the movie is when one bad guy beats another one nearly (or hopefully) to death. the ending is weak and at times the acting goes just a little over the top. but for the most part it's an excellently acted movie, frightening in its violence and disturbing in its revelation of what life is like for some. it's got a lot of stuff that you'd probably have to be a new zealander to really get, but most of that is gracefully explained.

some scenes are cringeworthy, to say the least, but this is only a testament to the skillful acting and direction.

so if you enjoy movies about domestic violence and face tattoos, i highly recommend "once were warriors". also, it has a cool theme song.