The Strength of Water (2009) User Reviews (5)

beautiful and moving

[talkingduck · 9/10 · 8 March 2009]

I was lucky enough to see this @ Berlin film festival.

It was one of the visually beautiful and moving films I saw!

It stood out for me through it's compelling subject matter and stunning landscapes.

The performances were extraordinary. They kids were so real and open in their performances. I got a glimpse into a culture I didn't know yet found something universal within it...

The audience around me were laughing and crying with me... I think we were all taken by the heart and warmth of this film.

This is the sort of film that needs to be seen. I hope it gets a release outside the festival circuit. I can't wait to see what the director (and writer) do next.

As you can see this film moved me...

Achingly real and beautiful

[mickgmovies · 9/10 · 2 July 2018]

Having lived in NZ for 8 years in a similarly remote coastal community, this beautiful movie made be both laugh and cry.

It shows both the highs and lows of: family, community life, and isolation.

The pace is slow, but the characters and photography make this movie feel like you are there in the windswept location yourself.

If you're after something mindless and trivial, this isnt for you. If you want to be opened with emotion and empathy - then indulge in this movie.

Immerse yourself in this one.

[ptb-8 · 8/10 · 14 December 2009]

This simple and effective Maori (NZ) film details a family turning point in a 10 year old boys life. Set in the wildest coldest windswept coast of North Island New Zealand and featuring some of the most spectacular freezing desolate landscapes since STORM BOY and RYANS DAUGHTER, any viewer willing to settle into THE STRENGTH OF WATER will emerge blinking back into their own lives afterwards having felt as though the actually have been somewhere. A NZ-German co-production, THE STRENGTH OF WATER features an all Maori cast and shows a loving family who suddenly cope with a cruel twist of fate and the emotional fallout. The unaffected natural performances are quite astonishing and will allow any age person to completely connect with the characters. The family is sensible, hard working and live simply which makes the storyline and what befalls them all the more touching. Then they have to put up with what happens to their community. The amazing cold wet scenes in a windy rain-swept rusting car scrap-yard are so visceral I still feel now as though I was actually there that day. THE STRENGTH OF WATER, like the NZ counterpart from 10 years ago WHALE RIDER makes for emotionally satisfying viewing and I recommend it heartily. How these people live in this freezing saturated paradise is almost bewildering. It is an exceptionally good film. It also reminded me of the Scottish film KES.

The same pain and grief but they're different people from culture

[Reno-Rangan · 8/10 · 25 July 2013]

Not seen much New Zealand movies other than Peter Jackson's and few others. I actually found it interesting story of a community that we don't know anything about it. When we go deeper and deeper into a country's daily life we get to know a strange but beautiful culture that in use in present era. So this movie is here to take us to the one of that adventureland, more like a heaven with those beautiful sceneries. I felt like not enough to see through small camera lens, my eyes wanted more of it.

It is the story of a young boy called Kimi who live in the remote village of a coastal New Zealand. When he and his sister Melody forced apart by a new arrival to the town, he must let it go what he loves the most. The way he behaves, especially his family who are concerned about him must give strength.

If you are a children movie fan you would find it an interesting movie. Not only the beautiful locations, the performances by these two kids were very good. All the above the director who used these two to blend with the beautiful places where the movie shot was so pleasant for the eyes. The movie was a lot like an awesome poetry.

Uneasy Spirits

[tedg · 8 August 2009]

This is something of a jumble, getting by because it depicts a somewhat interesting (to me) culture.

The reason it is a mess is because it wanders all over the place without any narrative coherence. I'm all for that when the incoherence matters. But here we have a set of Maori prepubescent twins. One dies and magically accompanies the other, whose troubles are resolved at the end.

Along the way, we have parallel stories about older troubled teens, and unanchored metaphors involving the sea, chickens and a mad dog.

Native magic is a powerful thing to mine in cinema. The two kids here are pretty darn effective, but then they are deliberately playing slightly handicapped personalities. There is one thing you could enjoy: The two teen leads have a strange physical appeal, somewhat hypnotizing. But then that could have been the 30 hour plane voyage on which I say this.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.