Patu!

Film (Full Length) – 1983

Parental Guidance

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.
– Merata Mita reflecting on accusations of bias in Patu!

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.
– Tama Poata in a speech to police, featured in Patu!

...it started out being the film that recorded how the tour would be stopped, and it turned into this ugly monster that became the Springbok tour.
– Director Merata Mita on Patu!, in 1998 documentary Rangatira - Making Waves

..there was rather a lot of controversy within the film industry and within anybody who knew that the film was being made, to Merata actually being the director of the film. And it seemed that this criticism was coming because people felt that she would put a Māori bias onto the film. Of course nobody questioned the fact that everything else that went onto television at that stage in this country actually had a Pākehā bias because there were no Māori people inputting into either television or the film industry.
– Patu! editor Annie Collins, in 1998 documentary Rangatira - Making Waves