Munro (Guy Pearce) has once been a soldier for the crown, but has seen too much blood in his lifetime, so to atone for all the wrongs he has done he has switched to be a lay preacher to be sent to New Zealand in 1830. And on the way to his parish, he saves a woman, Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne), from almost certain execution by warlord Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare), and thus Rangimai's father Maianui (Antonio Te Maioha) leaves her and a fellow tribesman in his care for some sort of cultuiral exchange - and this isn't at all taken well by the members of Munro's new parish, to the point where Rangimai's companion's killed for getting too friendly with one of the local girls. Now it's up to Munro, Rangimai and Charlotte (Jacqueline McKenzie), a woman who has lived with the Maori for a while, to return the body to Rangimai's tribe. Spending some time with the tribe, Munro learns a lot about their way of life and beliefs, and learns to apreciate whom he formerly has viewed as "primitives" ... and then he learns about a pretty much immenant war of them with Akatarewa's tribe, and he does what he can to prevent slaughter - but then again he's just a preacher and outsider to all things Maori, so before the actual battle he already fights a losing fight ... 

Now this is a film that's almost impossible not to like: It tells an epic story about colonialism but isn't only just right in scale, it also has its heart in the exactly right place, it's action heavy but still focuses on characters and character arcs, and it makes great use of its pirrotesque locations without ever resorting to postcard kitsch. And despite all the slaughter displayed, this one has a feel-good vibe to it, and at least I have admittedly shed a handful of tears towards the ending. So in all, well worth a watch, and uplifting beyond just that.

The Convert will be released by Vertigo Releasing on October 14th 2024

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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