You are here:

Synopsis

Merata Mita’s Patu! is a startling documentary record of the mass civil disobedience that took place throughout New Zealand during the winter of 1981, in protest against a South African rugby tour. Testament to the courage and faith of both the filmmakers and marchers, Patu! is a landmark in New Zealand's film history. It staunchly contradicts claims by author Gordon McLauchlan a couple of years earlier that New Zealanders were "a passionless people".

Background

A Perspective by Mihi Murray 31.08.2008

Merata Mita's Patu! is a remarkable protest story told in the face of adversity, and a monument to a time when New Zealand was torn in two by the 1981 Springbok rugby tour. You were ...

Read more ›

Credits (21)

 Merata Mita
 Chris Barrett
 Gaylene Preston

Post a comment

   
I am:
 

Please keep your comments relevant to this title. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

Comments (23)

 dont worry.

dont worry.

mean maori cuz!!

 kki

kki

mch RESPECT

 Robert Lopa

Robert Lopa

I watched this doc back in 2009 when I was in school and just felt like watching it again, properly this time. Just couldn't believe in everything that took place. So proud of the people of New Zealand who tried their best to end the tour. I really can't believe those police officers back then, real pricks to be honest.

 Fikile buthelezi

Fikile buthelezi

It is great to see this doc.I googled the stop the tour of 1981 because' Andrew Kgoti Molotsane(a SACTU trade unionist) who died in 1984 at the age of 32 was reburied here in SA on the 30 June 2012, from where he tragically passed on in Botswana

He indeed was a great motivator and orator of his time.I knew him from our days of SASM in 1974.

May he find eternal peace and watch over us as a people of SA as we navigate our painful struggle for social cohesion.

Robala ka Kgotso Molotsane!

 monique delatour

monique delatour

Thank you so much for the opportunity to see this. I was involved in the protests, when i was 16. It was during this time i heard gil scott heron's song 'johannesburg' . This was a pivotal turning point in my life, and I ended up living and working with gil (RIP) for a number of years here in the USA. Much respect to everyone involved in the mobilization during this time, it made me who I am today.

Show 5 more comments

Produced by

Favourite:

You need to be logged in to add to your favourites.

Related Titles (23)

 Mauri

Film, 1988 (Excerpts)

Another film directed by Mita

 Revolution (part one) - Fortress New Zealand

Television, 1996 (Full Length Episode)

A documentary covering NZ society during the tour

 Children of the Revolution

Television, 2007 (Excerpts)

A documentary exploring the 1970s/80s protest movement through six key activists and their children.

 E Tipu E Rea - Roimata

Television, 1989 (Full Length)

A short drama written and directed by Riwia Brown

 Try Revolution

Television, 2006 (Excerpts)

A documentary about the impact of the Springbok protests

 Hotere

Film, 2001 (Full Length)

Also directed by Merata Mita

 Land of a Thousand Lovers

Television, 1977 (Full Length)

A documentary about the land protests of 1976

 Score

Short Film, 1980 (Full Length)

The All Blacks meet Tchaikovsky in this NFU classic curio

 Making Utu

Television, 1982 (Full Length)

Merata Mita is casting director for Utu

 Mururoa 1973

Television, 1973 (Full Length)

A doco on 1973 anti-French nuclear testing protests

 Koha - Nga Pikitia Māori

Television, 1987 (Full Length)

Mita is featured in this Koha documentary on Māori film

 The Game of Our Lives - Home and Away

Television, 1996 (Full Length Episode)

A series looking at NZ social history through rugby

 The Garlick Thrust

Television, 1983 (Full Length)

A drama set during the 1981 Springbok Tour

 Old Scores

Film, 1991 (Excerpts)

A film about an All Blacks Wales rugby match

 Loose Enz - The Protesters

Television, 1982 (Full Length)

Drama set immediately after the Springbok tour

 Kete Aronui - Merata Mita

Television, 2007 (Excerpts)

Mita discusses her journey as an artist in this TV doco

 Azania

Music Video, 1981

Protest song from 1981

 Riot Squad

Music Video, 1981

Music video from 1981

 There is No Depression in New Zealand

Music Video, 1981

Springbok Tour era protest song

 Jumping Out A Window

Music Video, 1981

New Zealand in 1981

 Police Ten 7 (always blow on the pie)

Television, 2009 (Excerpts)

 One Network News - Protest (2 January 1995)

Television, 1995 (Excerpts)

A onscreen protest

 The Gravy - Series One, Episode Four (Tigilau Ness)

Television, 2007 (Full Length Episode)

Documentary featuring anti-apartheid protestor Tigilau Ness

Collections.   See all collections ›  

Included in:

 Rugby
 Greatest Hits

Quotes

Yes, Patu! has a Māori perspective, but it does not override the mass mobilisation of New Zealand's white middle class, neither does it take credit from those who rightly deserve it, everyone who put themselves on the line. My perspective encourages people to look at themselves and examine the ground they stand on. 
We do not fear you. We might shed blood on the road, we might show some bruises tonight, but at least we can sleep with a clear conscience, we will sleep with a clear conscience. Many of you won’t. Some of you might think you will, but history is on our side, and that’s what matters [...]. History is always on the side of the people, not armies, not policemen and not governments. History is always on the side of the people. 

Awards

2012 UNESCO Memory of the World
Listed in the New Zealand Register for Documentary Heritage

Festivals include
2013 Berlin, 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, All Roads Indigenous Film Festival (United States), 1983 and 2006 New Zealand Film Festival