The Bruno Lawrence Collection
This collection celebrates the inimitable performances of...
Top 10 NZ Feature Films
NZ On Screen has selected an all-time NZ feature film Top...
The Geoff Murphy Collection
This collection pays tribute to filmmaker Geoff Murphy –...
Making Utu
The making of ...
Utu Redux
Geoff Murphy's 2013 "restored and enhanced" Utu
Goodbye Pork Pie
Also written and directed by Geoff Murphy
Wild Man
Another Geoff Murphy period tale
Blerta Revisited
Directed by Geoff Murphy
Numero Bruno
Doco on actor Bruno Lawrence
Ngati
The story of a Māori community, featuring Wi Kuki Kaa
Crooked Earth
Feature film about contemporary Māori conflict
Little Things
Music video clip also featuring actor Wi Kuki Kaa
Tank Busters
Also directed by Geoff Murphy
Epidemic - Hemi Te Koaka (First Episode)
TV drama written by Keith Aberdein
One of those Blighters
Also features Bruno and Martyn Sanderson
Kaleidoscope - NZ Cinema, the Past Decade
Utu features in this survey of NZ film
Savage Play - Part Three
Another 19th century drama
Taua - War Party
More violent revenge in the bush
The New Zealand Wars 4 - Taranaki Prophets (Episode Four)
Documentary that includes Tītokowaru’s rebellion
Never Say Die
Also directed by Geoff Murphy
Good for Nothing
Another Kiwi western
Tā Moko
A doco about Tā Moko
Pictures
Another film set during the New Zealand Wars
The Quiet Earth
Also directed by Geoff Murphy
The New Zealand Wars
The history of Māori vs Pākehā conflict
Staunch
Features another notable mock trial
Close Up - Utu
A Close Up special on the production of Utu
The Dead Lands
More Māori warriors
Shipwreck - The Wreck of the Orpheus
More alleged utu
The Life and Times of Te Tutu - 4 (Series One, Episode Four)
Features another colonial priest
It's the 1870s, and Māori leader Te Wheke (Anzac Wallace) is fed up by brutal land grabs. He leads a bloody rebellion against the colonial Government, provoking threatened frontiersmen, disgruntled natives, lusty wahine, bible-bashing priests, and kupapa alike to consider the nature of ‘utu’ (retribution). Legendary New Yorker critic Pauline Kael raved about Geoff Murphy’s ambitious follow up to Goodbye Pork Pie: “[He] has an instinct for popular entertainment. He has a deracinated kind of hip lyricism. And they fuse quite miraculously in this epic ...”
For me it is blood for blood. Utu.– Matu (Merata Mita)
Produced by
Utu Productions
More information
Acknowledgements
Made with funding from the New Zealand Film Commission.
Music
Music composeed by John Charles. Performed by the NZ Symphony Orchestra, conducted by William Southgate. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack available to buy on iTunes.
Waiatas by Jane and Paul Mareikura
Māori flute by Joe Malcolm