Line #1 YMMV/OnceWereWarriors


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2	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: The film was turned down by various potential backers and producers including the New Zealand Film Commission. Creator/TemueraMorrison did not expect the film to be a hit, as he couldn't contemplate how anyone would want to watch a film containing such violence.
3	* {{Anvilicious}}: Violent drunkenness is bad and no substitute for the restrained warrior traditions. Māori people are screwed badly if they don't accept it. The film is in no way subtle about this.
4	* AwardSnub: The film was nominated for many international awards, particularly for its acting. The standout was The New Zealand Film and TV Awards, however, when Rena Owen was overlooked for her performance as Beth.
5	* CatharsisFactor: Jake savagely beating [[spoiler: and castrating]] Bully, following the latter's [[spoiler:rape of Grace and her subsequent suicide]].
6	* FirstInstallmentWins: The novel spawned two sequels: ''What Becomes of the Broken Hearted'' and ''Jake's Long Shadow.'' The second was also filmed, and the adaptation, while well-received, was nowhere near as popular or well-known as OWW. The third story in the series has not been filmed, possibly due to AdaptationDisplacement.
7	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Jake is a domestic abuser, rapist, and all-around utterly repugnant excuse for a human being, but despite it all, Creator/TemueraMorrison gives such a charismatic and layered performance that he's still fascinating to watch.
8	* MemeticMutation: Notably [[spoiler:"Cook me some fuckin' eggs!"]] and [[spoiler:"Uncle FUCKIN' Bully!"]].
9	* MisaimedFandom: Alan Duff wrote the original novel with the intention of providing a {{Deconstruction}} of Jake Heke as a BadassNative, and as AnAesop to show that violence, especially violence driven by alcoholism, is wrong. [[https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/violent-maori-males-worship-jake-heke/YRFLICDWTF4W5TUCIRMOZN36IA/ If this article is any indication]], Jake has to a very real degree become a DracoInLeatherPants. Many violent Maori youth apparently idolize Jake as the kind of badass they want to become, and entirely miss the message Duff intended.
10	* MoralEventHorizon:
11	** For most viewers, Jake crossed it when he has violently raped Beth about a third into the film.
12	** Uncle Bully crosses it [[spoiler: when he rapes Grace, which indirectly led to her committing suicide.]]
13	* RetroactiveRecognition: [[Film/AttackOfTheClones Jango Fett]], natch.
14	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The Toa Aotearoa gang. We see that they use Māori culture for their ends and that they accept Nig and provide support for him, but this requires him to endure a brutal beatdown. Is their existence a way for downtrodden Māori youth to make their way in life or something that further marginalises the peaceful majority of Māori from the white population? Are their attempts to connect with Māori culture through the tattoos one of the few ways to preserve it in the cynical, value-free world or something that makes a mockery of its original meaning? Those questions are far more interesting than seeing Jake beat the shit out of someone for the ''nth'' time. However, they get no attention in the film and aren't addressed at all.
15	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: It gets rather hard to care about the storyline about halfway through, after the fifth beating and second rape.
16	* TheWoobie: Poor, poor Grace gets it particularly hard. [[spoiler:She's sexually assaulted by Uncle Bully, and quickly starts to lose hope]]. After a heaping of particularly horrid abuse from Jake, [[DespairEventHorizon her despair is enough to]] [[spoiler:cause her to [[DrivenToSuicide hang herself]] from the old tree in their yard.]] [[TearJerker Yeah, you may want to get some tissues.]]

Context YMMV / OnceWereWarriors