Utu

Name: Utu
Genre: War, Adventure, Drama, History
Released: 1983-01-31
Duration: 1 h 58 min
Rating: 6.9
Cast: Anzac Wallace, Bruno Lawrence, Tim Elliott, Kelly Johnson, Wi Kuki Kaa

Utu (1983)

1:58 (118 min)

War, Adventure, Drama, History

New Zealand

6.9/10
1 533

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7/10
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6.9/10
1500

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All about film

Video 2

Photo 10

Actors and characters

2:03

Photo 10

Production

Utu Productions, New Zealand Film Commission

Release date

31 January 1983

Director

Geoff Murphy

Scenario

Keith Aberdein

Producer

Don Blakeney

All team (29)

Actors

Anzac Wallace

Te Wheke

Bruno Lawrence

Williamson

Tim Elliott

Col. Elliot

Kelly Johnson

Lt. Scott

Wi Kuki Kaa

Wiremu

Ilona Rodgers

Emily

Merata Mita

Matu

Faenza Reuben

Hersare

All actors and roles (10)

Short description

In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.

What's left behind the scenes

This Maori uprising did indeed take place in New Zealand and forever changed its way of life. Utu became the artistic embodiment of the only successful indigenous resistance against the British colonizers.
Anzac Wallace (1945-2019), who played the role of the Maori tracker, had previously been a trade union activist and had never appeared in films before.
The film was re-released in 2013. This happened after cinematographer Graham Cowley saw the film broadcast on Maori television and was appalled by the abysmal quality of the print. It turned out that no high-quality copies of the film had been preserved, so Cowley, together with director Geoff Murphy (1938-2018) and editor Michael Horton, recreated the film using the original negatives. The premiere of the restored version took place on July 26, 2013, as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival.