Utu

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 ... The film has sweep, yet it's singularly unpretentious — irony is turned into slapstick."

For me it is blood for blood. Utu.

– Matu (Merata Mita)

Key Cast & Crew

Geoff Murphy

Director, Producer, Writer

Anzac Wallace

As: Te Wheke

Don Blakeney

Producer

Keith Aberdein

Writer

Stephen Tozer

As: Captain Rogers

Tim Eliott

As: Colonel Elliot