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Pop CultureAugust 1, 2024

Review: We Were Dangerous is a soaring celebration of misfits and girlhood

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Alex Casey reviews the debut feature from director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu. 

Of the many enduring images from We Were Dangerous, there’s one which truly captures the joy and freedom of girlhood. Forced into yet another day of labour on their island outpost, the group of misfit girls drop the cleaning cloths and mops and start to dance, arms raised. The total lack of self-consciousness and absence of any kind of outsider gaze evokes similar heart-squeezing scenes from coming-of-age darlings such as the ‘Diamonds’ sequence in Girlhood, or the gals singing the Love Island theme a cappella in How to Have Sex

The difference is that this story is taking place in Aotearoa. It’s 1954 inside Te Motu School For Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls, an institution established on an island formerly populated by lepers. “If the island can contain leprosy it could probably manage a few girls on heat,” one of the male head honchos says. Ruled by a withering woman known only as The Matron (Rima Te Wiata) – who interrupts the above dancing and punishes accordingly – the island faces a huge threat in a rebellious trio of pals plotting to bring it down.

Written by New Yorker cartoonist Maddie Dai and the feature debut of director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Waru), We Were Dangerous is much more than just a coming-of-age caper. Set against a backdrop of colonisation, patriarchy, conservatism and godliness, it touches on many difficult parts of our recent history, before revealing a much darker truth at its heart. Although a fictional story, it is impossible to watch without reflecting on the recent Abuse in Care inquiry, and the institutional violence on which this country is built. 

But, somewhat miraculously, it is also… really funny? And uplifting? And joyous? Carried by the incredible central trio of Nelly (Erana James), Daisy (Manaia Hall) and Lou (Nathalie Morris), their brand of cheeky rebellion and bone-deep connection is infectious. Bunking together as “three girls in a leaky hut”, their bleak backstories are slowly revealed as they grow closer, pulling mattresses off beds and eventually collapsing in a cosy cackling pile that anyone who has ever been to a girls sleepover will instantly recognise. 

As a counter to their carefree joie de vivre is Rima Te Wiata (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Housebound), sensational as the tight-laced, po-faced Matron. While she could have easily slipped into Trunchbullian caricature, Te Wiata’s performance reveals glimmers of humanity and doubt underneath all the bible-bashing and internalised misogyny. Barry (Stephen Tamarapa) also steals every scene as the bumbling caretaker, extremely out of his depth in taking wayward teens on an island-wide rat trapping mission. 

The costuming and set design feels just as lived in as the performances. A local 1950s period drama risks looking like Call the Midwife Down Under: The Musical, but every detail from the chipped enamel cups to the faded leather brogues has been considered. You can almost smell the creaky leaky hut that becomes the trio’s refuge, laden in dust and cobwebs. As for the setting itself, Terrence Malick is clapping at the long golden grasses of the Banks Peninsula, which have never looked better offset by the girls’ cornflower blue jumpsuits. 

My only wish, and this is rare for me, is that the movie was slightly longer. A gear shift that I shall not spoil feels as if it comes very quickly and the final chapter feels slightly rushed given its gravity. But given that the film has already received critical acclaim internationally, and Stewart-Te Whiu took out the Special Jury Prize for Filmmaking at SXSW, we’re probably best left wanting more than less. Tackling some dark parts of our history with a deftly light touch, this assured debut has all the makings of an instant coming-of-age classic.

We Were Dangerous is currently screening in the New Zealand International Film Festival, and will be in cinemas nationwide August 22. 

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Not in fact Cameron Gray. Image: Sky Sport
Not in fact Cameron Gray. Image: Sky Sport

Pop CultureJuly 31, 2024

Freestyling in Paris: ‘We’re not sure who that was. It wasn’t Cameron Gray’

Not in fact Cameron Gray. Image: Sky Sport
Not in fact Cameron Gray. Image: Sky Sport

The spirit of inclusivity and the giddy Parisian air deliver a memorable moment in Olympics coverage.

It’s been valiant efforts and what-might-have-been for New Zealand swimmers at the Paris Olympics, but last night an unlikely member of the squad delivered a welcome moment of levity. 

Shortly after 9pm last night, Cameron Gray finished sixth in a tight 100m freestyle heat. A few moments later, Sky TV’s Laura McGoldrick announced from the Auckland studio: “Let’s cross now to Tim Evans, who caught up with Cameron after his race.”

“Take us through how you went in that race,” Evans asked, amid the poolside din. “Ah, it was fun,” replied Gray, dripping and recovering his breath. “I start pretty good and I got a little tired towards the end. But it was a good experience.”

“What was your plan going into it?”

“Take it out fast, and come back. Not too complicated,” said Gray, leaning forward, speaking with an unlikely, enigmatic accent for a young man from the North Shore. 

Evans persevered. “This arena, incredible wall of noise in here?”

“Yeah. Obviously it’s a big thing. But I just use the energy for myself. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So I’m just here for fun. And race.”

“All good mate,” said Evans, with the air of a man coming to realise he may have forgotten to turn the iron off. 

After a commercial break, McGoldrick set things straight. “If you have been joining us for most of the evening,” she said, “you’ll be thinking: ‘Hey, I think that guy they spoke to post-race wasn’t Cameron Gray. And you’d be right. It wasn’t Cameron Gray.”

She continued, spiritedly: “We’re not sure who that was. But we do know we have Cameron Gray now, and he’s with Tim Evans at the pool. 

In fact Cameron Gray. Image: Sky Sport

It might not have been on the level of Guy Goma – the man who arrived at the BBC in London for a job interview in 2006 only to be mistaken for a technology commentator and quizzed live on air on News 24 – but it’s one for the annals of great New Zealand Olympic interviews

Which leaves just one remaining puzzle. Who was the mysterious not-Gray swimmer? Turned out it was Israeli Tomer Frankel. He’d finished second. That wasn’t fast enough to qualify, either, but he could at least enjoy being sought after by the global media.