COUSINS
****
Directors: Ainsley Gardiner & Briar Grace-Smith
Screenplay: Briar Grace-Smith, based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Grace.
Principal cast:
Tanea Heke
Rachel House
Briar Grace-Smith
Ana Scotney
Hariata Moriarty
Tioreore Melbourne
Country: New Zealand
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 10 June 2021.
When interviewed on ABC Television recently, one half of the directing team of Cousins, Ainsley Gardiner, said that the film “is essentially a story of colonisation and everything that’s lost through the process, its culture, its language. And one of the things that happened in New Zealand was that our children were taken, seemingly for their own good. So absolutely the history of colonisation in Australia and New Zealand is very similar.” Tens of thousands of Māori children were taken from their homes between 1955 and 1985 and adopted by Pākehā (white) families, in a practice known as ‘closed adoption’. These people were unable to access their official adoption papers until after 1985 so, naturally, the process had an enormous impact on their loss of identity. Now, using a predominately female crew and cast, Gardiner and writer and co-director Briar Grace-Smith have brought the dramatic story of this hidden history of Aotearoa to life in their adaption of Patricia Grace’s eponymous 1992 novel.
Cousins tells the story of three female cousins, Mata, Makareta and Missy, who were separated at an early age and spent a major part of their lives trying to re-connect. Mata was removed from her family by the authorities because her abusive father was Pākehā and her mother Māori, while Makareta fled an arranged marriage so that she could study, and Missy stayed on their traditional lands. After a period spent in a home for “dissolute” children, Mata is adopted by a white woman and raised as May Parker by her rather cruel, racist guardian, Mrs. Parkinson (Sylvia Rands). Her mental state becomes more and more confused as she ages and her memories of her happy childhood fade so when, many years later, a chance sighting in a city street by Makareta re-establishes contact between the cousins, Mata doesn’t recognise her. We learn that Makareta has been searching for her for ages - “I tried to find you, Mata. We all did,” she explains - thus, they are mature women when they are finally re-united with their third cousin, Missy, who has become kaitiaki (guardian) of their homelands.
The lives of the three women are played out over their life spans, so they are portrayed by three generations of actresses as children, young adults and elders. All the girls and women who play them are first-rate but, when the cousins are in their third age, their stories are remarkably depicted by Tanea Heke as Mata, Rachel House as Missy and co-director/writer Briar Grace-Smith as Makareta. Heke, in particular, gives an amazingly strong performance as the bewildered Mata. Tech credits are excellent, too, all serving the story without getting in the way of the strong narrative.
In Cousins, we are given a rare insight into Māori culture and the significance of family; tikanga Māori (Māori cultural practice) is at the heart of the story, as is the importance of whakapapa (genealogical links). Do not miss this film, not only for the performances and the stunning locations but, more importantly, for the heart-wrenching elucidation of a part of New Zealand’s history that needs to be exposed. Cousins is rich, layered and powerful.
NB. Māori children are still being removed from Māori families at an alarming rate, just as Indigenous children are being taken from their families in Australia.
Screenplay: Briar Grace-Smith, based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Grace.
Principal cast:
Tanea Heke
Rachel House
Briar Grace-Smith
Ana Scotney
Hariata Moriarty
Tioreore Melbourne
Country: New Zealand
Classification: M
Runtime: 98 mins.
Australian release date: 10 June 2021.
When interviewed on ABC Television recently, one half of the directing team of Cousins, Ainsley Gardiner, said that the film “is essentially a story of colonisation and everything that’s lost through the process, its culture, its language. And one of the things that happened in New Zealand was that our children were taken, seemingly for their own good. So absolutely the history of colonisation in Australia and New Zealand is very similar.” Tens of thousands of Māori children were taken from their homes between 1955 and 1985 and adopted by Pākehā (white) families, in a practice known as ‘closed adoption’. These people were unable to access their official adoption papers until after 1985 so, naturally, the process had an enormous impact on their loss of identity. Now, using a predominately female crew and cast, Gardiner and writer and co-director Briar Grace-Smith have brought the dramatic story of this hidden history of Aotearoa to life in their adaption of Patricia Grace’s eponymous 1992 novel.
Cousins tells the story of three female cousins, Mata, Makareta and Missy, who were separated at an early age and spent a major part of their lives trying to re-connect. Mata was removed from her family by the authorities because her abusive father was Pākehā and her mother Māori, while Makareta fled an arranged marriage so that she could study, and Missy stayed on their traditional lands. After a period spent in a home for “dissolute” children, Mata is adopted by a white woman and raised as May Parker by her rather cruel, racist guardian, Mrs. Parkinson (Sylvia Rands). Her mental state becomes more and more confused as she ages and her memories of her happy childhood fade so when, many years later, a chance sighting in a city street by Makareta re-establishes contact between the cousins, Mata doesn’t recognise her. We learn that Makareta has been searching for her for ages - “I tried to find you, Mata. We all did,” she explains - thus, they are mature women when they are finally re-united with their third cousin, Missy, who has become kaitiaki (guardian) of their homelands.
The lives of the three women are played out over their life spans, so they are portrayed by three generations of actresses as children, young adults and elders. All the girls and women who play them are first-rate but, when the cousins are in their third age, their stories are remarkably depicted by Tanea Heke as Mata, Rachel House as Missy and co-director/writer Briar Grace-Smith as Makareta. Heke, in particular, gives an amazingly strong performance as the bewildered Mata. Tech credits are excellent, too, all serving the story without getting in the way of the strong narrative.
In Cousins, we are given a rare insight into Māori culture and the significance of family; tikanga Māori (Māori cultural practice) is at the heart of the story, as is the importance of whakapapa (genealogical links). Do not miss this film, not only for the performances and the stunning locations but, more importantly, for the heart-wrenching elucidation of a part of New Zealand’s history that needs to be exposed. Cousins is rich, layered and powerful.
NB. Māori children are still being removed from Māori families at an alarming rate, just as Indigenous children are being taken from their families in Australia.