Kia Ora !!!
A Maori greeting which I thought was appropriate when I am to talk about a New Zealand movie featuring Maoris of 1980's. The best movie that I have seen in the recent past.... Thats quite a statement, huh? Rethinking once....twice....thrice. Yes, Boy to me was and is the best movie of the year.
Boy - the title character who carries the movie on his little shoulders. He has everything thats needed in a BOY. Naughty, Vibrant, Caring, Daring, Stylish.. above all daddy is his biggest hero and role model - well that for you is the principal plot of the movie. Boy has a brother, a house full of little cousins and yes a love interest in Chardonnay. Check out the full synopsis and cast and crew details at this cool movie website (
click here).
This is Alamein Boy's super dad who is also the director of the movie and he did a marvelous job at both. Dad's return from a jail sentence kickstarts the movie. He looks cruel and manipulative at the outset but as the movie goes on I started liking him. A Michael Jackson as well as samurai fan, he also has started a club "Crazy horses" the only members being 2 of his prison mates. He likes his weeds which Boy supplies to him in plenty and he talks about Spielberg's ET whilst digging for a fortune which he forgot where he hid before going to the jail.
Rocky - Boy's little brother. He does a magical performance in the little screen presence that he got in the movie - I liked this kid a lot. He is made to believe that he has some bad magical powers which resulted in his mom's death when giving birth to him and this turned him into an introvert as opposed to Boy. He has a friend in a homeless, crazy big fellow and the couple of scenes where these friends share the screen are truly special.
There are other interesting characters in the movie too - Leaf - Boy's pet goat who was destined to devour (literally) Dad's money, Dallas - Boy's kewl friend and to top it all - Waihau Bay - Boy's little town where it all pans out.
Boy paints the Maori culture and way of life to an outsider. There were many a jokes/comments that went over my head but I truly lived in Waihau Bay for a couple of hours. For me Maoris were all Haka (the famous new zealand war dance that they perform before most team sports events except cricket - esp if its against the aussies) but there was a Micheal Jackson moon walk tint to the Haka in Boy.
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| Haka meets MJ's moon walk |
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| Boy and his cousins |
The movie Boy to me was fun to start with, characters that I knew from my past but in a different setting glued me to the movie in the cinemas and the unforgettable scenes from the movie comes back to me every now and then reminding how innocent and original the movie was.
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