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There are quite a number of films out there about earning the ‘hard-to-obtain' respect of your elders. Whale Rider isn't all that different, but very rarely is it a granddaughter trying hard to win the love of her grandfather (off the top of my head the only other film I can think of that treads a similar path is an Indian melodrama, Udhaar Ki Zindagi). However the New Zealand setting offers a sense of calm, otherworldly beauty with the Maori culture, which makes for an invigorating change.

In a small New Zealand coastal village, the Maori tribe claim their descent from Paikea, the Whale Rider, who rode atop a whale from Hawaiki. In every generation a male heir has succeeded as chief. Koro (Rawiri Paratene) is the oldest descendent of his generation and is awaiting the birth of a new heir. His son Porourangi (Cliff Curtis) fathers twins - a boy and a girl. Unfortunately the mother dies during childbirth, as does the boy, leaving just the girl, Pai (Keisha Castle-Hughes). Koro is unwilling to accept his granddaughter. During the years growing up they do form a bond together, but Koro refuses to believe that Pai can become the heir, simply because she's a girl. However Pai stands up to him, and years of tradition, but can she achieve the impossible?

Based on the novel, The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera (who is also credited here as an associate producer), Whale Rider is kind of like Rocky for little girls who come from a strictly traditional family background. The big themes here include prejudice and female empowerment. The thing is that even today, because of certain cultural customs, some people are still (dare I say it and incur the wrath of elders with big sticks?) living backwards. There are thousands out there who will relate to such circumstances, regardless of race, sex or age, and they will clearly find this a relevant film.

Whale Rider is carried by its central performances, and by God, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Rawiri Paratene are on fire. The film was Castle-Hughes' screen debut and she only auditioned after the casting director visited her primary school. She brings smarts and strength in a performance that still has a genuine childlike quality about it, rather than something that's been endlessly refined. Even her concert scene has an unrehearsed look about it, and works all the better for it. At 13-years-old, Castle-Hughes hit the stratosphere after she became the youngest actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar; the film's only Oscar nomination. Rawiri Paratene is just as good and it's a shame he didn't get as much praise. He plays his character Koro as solemn, yet selfishly scary. He doesn't care about anyone but himself, and fights to maintain the traditional values. This is illustrated after his first minute on screen, where he doesn't even care to look at his son's wife at the hospital, and only asks, "Where is the boy?"

To make Pai more of an outsider, director Niki Caro deliberately doesn't give her any friends, and when she is interacting with children of her age, they're all boys. Pai is treated like a curse, made to feel guilty just because she exists. "When she was born, that's when things went wrong for us," says Koro. Would she still be treated the same if she were somewhere else? The film makes half an attempt to answer this. Pai's father, Porourangi, returns to New Zealand after working in Germany, and Koro prompts him to take Pai back there with him, which he is happy to do. She agrees but changes her mind at the last minute. That she could have achieved more if she had gone is left up in the air. Given the difficult situation, many would want to just up and leave; yet Pai has the strength and determination to stay in the hope that she can change things for the better where she already is. Hell, she even gets around to beating up the boys!

With its cultural subject matter, it wasn't exactly an easy film to market, with even the posters relying more on the tagline to lure potential audiences in. The one of Castle-Hughes in a green jacket with her arms moderately raised just looks plain vague. However, from playing at the big film festivals (Toronto, Sundance, Rotterdam, Tribeca, San Francisco) the film earned rave reviews and awards before its official US release. It became a success critically and made a profit at the box office, taking just over $40 million worldwide against its miniscule $3.5 million production budget. Director Niki Caro has since gone on to make another film about female empowerment, North Country, and has cast Keisha Castle-Hughes again in her next film, The Vintner's Luck.

Whale Rider is ultimately delightful, moving, and even funny at times, teaching us that despite deeply held beliefs, change can be good. Also it's probably asking too much to make us believe that we can learn something new from our children these days, but they can challenge us and surprise us. In fact, you may even enjoy it more by watching it with your own children (or borrowing some if you've none yourself).