Indigenising the screen: Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wēniti—The Māori Merchant of Venice (2002)

Abstract

This article examines Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Wēniti—The Māori Merchant of Venice (2002), the first dramatic feature film, performed entirely in te reo Māori (the Māori language). This adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice was based on Pei Te Hurinui Jones’ 1946 te reo Māori translation. Alongside close readings of the film, I drew on an interview with director, Don Selwyn, whānau (family) input and the literature. I applied Kia Manawanui: Kaupapa Māori Film Theoretical Framework, an analytical tool, to provide thematic structure. Don Selwyn’s interpretation disrupts hierarchies of language, validating not only the Māori language but Indigenous languages globally as eminently capable of cinematic expression. He draws out the dynamics of oppression and colonisation, providing transformative and disruptive images of Māori, Māori culture and tikanga (protocols). By expressing these features Don Selwyn successfully indigenizes the screen. I argue that the film is a taonga (treasure).