From Aotearoa New Zealand: The Insatiable Moon (2011, directed by Rosemary Riddell, written by Mike Riddell)
Click here to watch the discussion for this film
From Gareth: Our first week of Dreaming the World takes us to Oceania - the lush and gorgeous continent containing Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Niue, Tonga, Australia, and our destination of Aotearoa New Zealand - a land I'm grateful to have had the privilege of visiting several times. Astonishing landscape is the most obvious attraction - but truthfully, it's the people that bring me back. And not just my friends, although the friendships I have among Kiwis are some of the strongest evidence in my life for Emerson's adage that "a friend is the masterpiece of nature". They are treasures indeed.
Kiwi people generally are often laid back, welcoming, don't take themselves too seriously, and are more than willing to share a healthy pride in history and culture. For many, the relationship between indigenous Māori and Pākehā (the Māori name for white settlers and their descendants), while continuing to suffer the legacy of unjust, and unjustifiable power structures, at least contains the seeds of possible reconciliation, and a model for the rest of the world. And, to quote directly from Mike Riddell, the writer of our first film, the country is “currently led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who is the epitome of what leadership should like like in a crisis…”
Two of my Kiwi friends collaborated to make the first film we'll watch together on this journey into seeing the world through the world's eyes - The Insatiable Moon; a truly original story, with a gorgeous central performance, and a provocative central question.
So, the invitation for you is to watch my short video below introducing the movie (before you see The Insatiable Moon), after which you’ll find the link to watch the movie (being offered for free by the filmmakers as a gift during the pandemic), a short essay offering some reflections (read this after you see the film), and a few recommendations of other things to watch, read or listen to, for a little touch of Aotearoa. We'll gather on Thursday, April 9th, at 8pm Eastern, to discuss the film. That call will be 45 minutes, but we may go on longer if folk want to; I'll also share more then about ongoing Porch circles for those of you who want to go a bit deeper. AND REALLY SPECIAL NEWS: Mike and Rose Riddell, the writer and director of The Insatiable Moon will be joining our first call this Thursday night. We’ll hear from them about the journey to the screen, and how the film emerged from the experience of light and shadow in Aotearoa New Zealand. Of course you’ll also have the opportunity to ask questions of Mike and Rose.
A REMINDER OF THE LINK FOR THE CALL ON THURSDAY:
CLICK HERE TO Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/620879619
Meeting ID: 620 879 619
Thank you again, so much, friends, for joining us. I'm really excited about this project, and glad to have you be part of it - don't hesitate to reach out, and we'll see you on Thursday. The Insatiable Moon is a film of fascinating complexity - not easily placed in a genre category, it is earthy and ramshackle, at times imbued with deep sorrow (with some scenes that may be somewhat distressing for some viewers), but ultimately touched with the joy of connection, and even a bit of magic.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE INSATIABLE MOON FOR FREE
OR CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON AMAZON PRIME FOR $3.99
Gareth’s Reflections - READ AFTER WATCHING
We begin our journey with the film that is literally closest to my heart - because it’s the first film in whose production I participated, spending five weeks on set in late 2009. So yes - I’m biased - but this movie is a perfect beginning to our journey into Dreaming the World, because it says something truthful about its home country - Aotearoa New Zealand, and universal about the need for connection and how, without love, we humans are but a tuneless drum kit.
A true labor of love, The Insatiable Moon is based on a novel by Kiwi writer and former minister Mike Riddell, about Arthur a Maori man experiencing homelessness, written off as “schizophrenic”, and believing himself to be the second son of God. Arthur loves the world - he makes it, of course - and the way he is different to mainstream culture is really a revealing of the sickness of a society devoted to getting as much as you can for yourself.
Mike based the story on a real experience he had while pastoring poverty-stricken outer Auckland in the 80s - Arthur is actually a loving homage to a man he really knew. Mike began to wonder, instead of going along with the exclusionary denunciations of a simplistic mental health diagnosis (without denying the value of holistic responses to psychological struggles), what if I treated Arthur like he was telling the truth?
The Insatiable Moon was published in 1997, and quickly became my favorite novel. One of the loveliest gifts of my life has been getting to know Mike as a cherished friend, and mentor in storytelling and writing. Move yourself away from the center, and you never know what you might end up seeing. After adapting his own novel, over a period of many years, Mike and his remarkable spouse Rosemary developed the project for the screen. Several near-misses with extraordinary success were followed by dead-ends, and there were extended periods where it seemed that the film would never see the light of day. And then - literally over the course of one weekend when the project seemed on the verge of permanent death - a stroke of genius: Rosemary, formed in the theatre, would direct.
The set of The Insatiable Moon therefore became a mirror of its own values - a ramshackle community of heartfelt artists, bringing an array of hands and voices and eyes to the weaving of a magical realist tale about another ramshackle community. The indigenous actor Rawiri Paratene gently dominates the screen, absorbing the projections of the audience that perhaps there is some wonder left in the world; our wincing at the times we ourselves have excluded others; our hope that we might learn from our mistakes, even be forgiven; and the competing voice that says we too have been excluded. We too want for community. We might - just might - be able to trust that Arthur is breathing it into being. I mean, he made the sun rise, didn’t he?
FOR FURTHER WATCHING
Whale Rider (2002) - written and directed by Niki Caro, based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera. One of the finest films ever made about childhood and the rites of passage that should mark an integrated transition to adulthood, but usually don’t.
The Piano (1993) - written and directed by Jane Campion. A film so rich that I went twenty-five years between my two viewings and didn’t lose anything; and like Whale Rider, about not just the overcoming of patriarchal oppression, but how such an overcoming releases gifts for everyone.
Boy (2012) - written and directed by Taika Waititi. Another film about childhood, transitions, and the gaps left when grown-ups have failed to do their growing up. Waititi is a fascinating hybrid - his work is funny on the surface, but never shies away from the real angst and sorrow that must be part of any full life.
And there’s more - Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Goodbye Pork Pie, The Quiet Earth, The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey, An Angel at My Table, The Ground We Won, Once Were Warriors, The World’s Fastest Indian, and Cinema of Unease - a fascinating documentary about Kiwi movies.
AND ALONG THE WAY, YOU MIGHT CONSIDER…
The Waitangi Tribunal - the commission set up to investigate claims made by Maori regarding promises broken by the colonial crown. Click here for more information.
The life and work of Janet Frame, perhaps Aotearoa New Zealand’s best known poet, passionate about the pain of the world, and herself the subject of an extraordinary film, An Angel at My Table.
The music of Douglas Lilburn, often considered the first classical composer with a truly Kiwi “voice”.
OTHER RECOMMENDED OCEANIA FILMS
Oceania, of course, also includes the nations of Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Niue, and Australia. Go deeper with these other recommended films:
Australia - Walkabout, Australia, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli, Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee, My Brilliant Career, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Babe & Babe: Pig in the City, Shine, The Castle, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Mary and Max, Lantana, Jindabyne, Ten Canoes (the first film made with entirely native Australian Aboriginal spoken languages), Rabbit-Proof Fence, Somersault, The Proposition, Mad Max: Fury Road, Holding the Man, Samson and Delilah, Bran Nue Dae, My Survival as an Aboriginal, It’s a Long Road Back.
Fiji - The Land Has Eyes - the first and thus far only film yet produced in Fiji by a Fijian filmmaker, about which A reviewer from the Seattle Weekly wrote:
“The Land Has Eyes reminds us of the power of film to take us to another world."
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS FOR THE INSATIABLE MOON
Questions for small groups:
Introduce yourself - and what led you to sign up for the course?
1: What do you remember most - what did you notice?
2: What touched or moved or inspired you, and why?
3: What questions did you have?
4: Having watched it, how would you like the world - or your life - to be different?