Once Were Warriors

Eighteen years after Jake and Beth Heke married in the first flush of teenage love, it's easy to see why Beth found him irresistible. Jake is a muscular handsome man who exudes an explosive sexual energy. Even now, five kids later, he can still arouse Beth with one look.

But Jake now spends most of his time at the pub proving his manhood with his fists. And if Beth ansers back, she's likely to get the same treatment.

But Beth's a survivor. It will take more than a few knocks to conquer her spirit and besides, she's still deeply in love with Jake.

At home, Beth struggles to keep the family together but the violence is taking its toll. One son has joined a gang, the next has been taken into welfare. Still untouched is Grace, the beautiful teenage daughter, a gifted writer and thinker who embodies Beth's own hope for a better future.

Tragically, Grace's special gifts set her apart form her tough urban surroundings and make her the most vulnerable memeber of her family. She's destined to be cut down before she's had a chance to mature.

While the loss of Grace is the worst tragedy Beth can imagine, it is also the very thing which turns her own life around for the better. Forced to make a choice - her man or her family - Beth finds the strength to seek a new alternative.

The Auckland production company Communicado bought the rights to Alan Duff’s novel Once Were Warriors almost immediately after it was published in 1990. The book then went on to become a New Zealand best seller.

Once Were Warriors appealed because its story was contemporary, urban and controversial, says producer Robin Scholes. "To my mind the history of New Zealand films contained too many polite stories which were distanced from everyday life."