Waru

It's a remarkable achievement - authentic, impassioned, unexpected - that stands as a testament to the radical power of cooperative film-making.

The cumulative power of this splintered portrait of community trauma creeps up on you.

Perhaps not every section works. But Waru lingers, disquietingly, in the mind.

The fact that this is the first feature film made by Maori women in nearly 30 years, says a great deal about the film industry and that this film has arrived at the right time.