Talk:Brown rat and Whale Rider: Difference between pages

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{{Infobox_Film |

"Adult body weight averages 320 g in males and about 200 g in females, but a very large individual can reach 500 g"? What's the source of this? In my experience it's more like 300 g for does and 500 g for bucks. // [[User:Liftarn|Liftarn]]

name= Whale Rider|

:Could that be a difference between wild-living and domesticated rats? - [[User:MPF|MPF]] 23:51, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

image= Whale Rider movie poster.jpg |

caption= Movie poster for ''Whale Rider'' |

writer= [[Witi Ihimaera]] (novel)<br>[[Niki Caro]] (movie) |

starring= [[Keisha Castle-Hughes]]<br>[[Rawiri Paratene]]<br>[[Vicky Haughton]]<br>[[Cliff Curtis]] |

director= [[Niki Caro]] |

producer= [[John Barnett (film producer)|John Barnett]]<br>[[Frank Hübner]]<br>[[Tim Sanders]] |

distributor= [[Newmarket Films]] ([[USA]]) |

released = [[January 30]] [[2003]] ([[New Zealand]])<br>[[July 4]] [[2003]] (USA) |

runtime= 101 min. |

language= [[English language|English]]/[[Māori language|Māori]] |

imdb_id= 0298228 |

budget= [[NZD]] 6,000,000 (est.) |

}}

'''''Whale Rider''''' is a [[2002]] [[film|movie]] based on the [[1987]] novel by [[New Zealand]] [[Māori]] author [[Witi Tame Ihimaera]]. Whale Rider is an adaptation of the book with the author's involvement by [[Niki Caro]], who also directed. It was released in New Zealand on [[January 30]]<!-- might've been on Jan 29th-->, [[2003]]. The world premiere was on [[September 9]], [[2002]], at the [[Toronto International Film Festival]].

==Plot==

"Rats live wherever people live. It is often said that there are as many rats in cities as people, but that is an untrue urban legend. It is probable that [[New York City]], for instance, has only 250,000 rats, not eight-million."

The movie's [[Plot (narrative)|plot]] follows the story of Paikea Apirana ("Pai") at the age of 12 who is the only living child in the line of the tribe's chiefly succession because of the [[death]] of her twin brother and mother during [[childbirth]]. By tradition, the leader should be the first-born son &mdash; a direct [[patrilineal]] descendant of Paikea, the one who rode atop a [[whale]] from [[Hawaiki]]. However, Pai is female.

"Rats in cities are not wanderers. They stay within 65 feet (20 meters) of their nest, and take the same trails to their food source every time they go out. They will cross an alley, but not a street."

Pai's grandfather Koro Apirana, or Old Paka as his wife Nanny Flowers calls him, the leader of the tribe, is initially angry about her birth. While he later forms an affectionate bond with his granddaughter, carrying her to school every day on his bicycle, he also resents her and blames her for many of the troubles facing the tribe. At one point Pai decides to leave with her father because her grandfather is mistreating her. She finds that she cannot bear to leave the sea and returns home. Pai's father has refused to assume leadership; instead he has moved to Germany to pursue a career as an artist. Pai herself shows an interest, learning traditional songs and dances, but is given little encouragement from her grandfather. Pai feels that even though she is a girl she can still become the leader, which is shown through her determination.

These two statements taken out as they are unfounded, and far from true, particularly the latter - [[User:MPF|MPF]] 23:51, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Koro decides to form a cultural school for the village boys, hoping to find a new leader. Pai, aided by her uncle and one of the students, Hemi, secretly follows the lessons and learns to use a [[taiaha]] ([[fighting stick]]), something traditionally reserved only for males. Her grandfather is enraged when he finds out. His relationship with Pai erodes further when none of the boys prove worthy of the title of leader.

I read the above information in an article in the New York Times Magazine. I consider that to be an accurate resource. [[User:Dinopup]]

Pai, in an attempt to bridge the rift that has formed, invites Koro to a concert of Māori chants that her school is putting on, as her guest of honor. However, as he is preparing to leave, he notices that numerous [[right whale]]s are beached near Pai's home. The entire village attempts to coax and drag them back into the water, but all efforts prove unsuccessful. Koro sees it as a sign of failure and despairs further. He admonishes Pai against touching the creatures, but when he walks away, she climbs onto the back of the largest whale and coaxes it to re-enter the ocean. Riding on the back of the whale, she leads the entire pod back into the sea, nearly drowning in the process. When she goes out to sea Nanny Flower (Koro's wife and Pai's grandmother) shows him the whales tooth that proves that Pai was meant to be the next leader. When Pai is found and brought to the hospital, Koro begs her forgiveness. The film ends with the village, including Pai's father, uncle and grandparents, celebrating her status as leader.

Robert Sullivan, in his recent ''Rats : Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants'' apparently roundly debunks the # of rats = # of people urban myth. Probably has other useful rat facts in it as well. Amazon quotes these: "if you are in New York... you are within close proximity to one or more rats having sex" and "26% of all electric cable breaks and 18% of all phone cable disruptions are caused by rats, 25% of all fires of unknown origin are rat-caused, and rats destroy an estimated 1/3 of the world's food supply each year.".- [[User:Nunh-huh|Nunh-huh]] 00:14, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC)

While the plot of the book is basically the same, it pays less attention specifically to Pai/Koro, and mainly focuses from a perspective of narration by Pai's uncle. It clearly expresses the deep resentment felt by her grandfather, and Pai's longing to gain his respect as a rift opens between them.

The UK official National Rodent Survey found a 2003 UK population of 60 million Brown Rats, about equal to the UK human population. Whether that population density applies elsewhere may well vary. But the second para above is definitely inaccurate; rats most certainly cross streets, I've seen them do so on several occasions, and even more often found dead rats run over in the process of doing so. And any rat that used the same trail every time would very quickly fall prey to a predator; unpredictability of movements is a key to survival for any wild animal. - [[User:MPF|MPF]] 14:17, 2 Apr 2004 (UTC)

==Production and Awards==

----

Produced by [[South Pacific Pictures]], on the East Coast of New Zealand's [[North Island]], the movie has received highly favourable praise from international critics and audiences.

The picture is of a [[fancy rat]]. Although fancy rats ''are'' biologically ''Rattus norvegicus'', it feels like putting a picture of a dog to an article about wolves. Though I have never seen a wild brown rat, I doubt they ever look as "good" as the picture shows, bathed, fur shining and groomed etc. --[[User:Farside|Farside]] 15:19, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The movie has won a number of international film-festival awards, including:

* the [[Toronto International Film Festival]]'s AGF Peoples Choice award in September 2002

* the World Cinema Audience award at the January 2003 [[Sundance Film Festival]] in the [[United States]]

* the Canal Plus Award at the January 2003 [[Rotterdam Film Festival]].

[[Keisha Castle-Hughes]] was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her performance, becoming the youngest actress ever nominated for the award. She was 13 years old at the time.

==Controversy==

Many people, including [[Roger Ebert]], thought the movie should have been rated [[MPAA film rating system|PG]] (as opposed to its [[MPAA film rating system#PG-13|PG-13]] rating) by the [[MPAA]]. Many felt that the rating was received solely because of a brief drug reference. However, the film opened with a sequence in which a mother dies in childbirth (as does one of the newborns), and contains another scene where students are told their "[[penis|dicks]] will fall off" if they don't obey the teacher - two scenes that are also likely responsible in part for the rating.

No real whales were beached to make the film. The whales in the movie were scale models, 9 were animatronic, several manipulated from inside by humans. The [[Right Whale]]s shown underwater were of course real. Castle-Hughes rode a mock-up, and that key sequence occurred several miles offshore.

*[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20031116/ANSWERMAN/311160302 ''Movie Answer Man'']

*[http://thinklings.org/b2commentspopup.php?p=1027&c=1 ''Thinklings Weblog Comments'']

==Cast==

*[[Keisha Castle-Hughes]] as Paikea Apirana

*[[Rawiri Paratene]] as Koro Apirana

*[[Vicky Haughton]] as Nanny Flowers

*[[Cliff Curtis]] as Porourangi

==See also==

*[[New Zealand literature]]

*[[New Zealand cinema]]

== External links ==

{{wikiquote}}

*[http://www.whaleriderthemovie.co.nz Official site]

*{{imdb title|id=0298228|title=Whale Rider}}

*[http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storyarchive.cfm?thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=film&reportid=812592 Feature - Whale Rider], at ''The New Zealand Herald''

*[http://www.geocities.com/ratesjul/whalerider.html Kahutia/Paikea - The Whale Rider] plot outline of the book

*[http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/elsewhere/41.html Little Girl, Big Fish] - movie review

<!-- Keisha Castle-Hughes -->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whale Rider, The}}

[[Category:1987 novels]]

[[Category:2003 films]]

[[Category:Films based on fiction books]]

[[Category:New Zealand culture]]

[[Category:New Zealand films]]

[[Category:Coming-of-age films]]

[[Category:Environmental films]]

[[Category:2003 Sundance Film Festival]]

[[Category:Sundance Film Festival award winners]]

[[Category:Maori-language films]]

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