What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?

This film charts the redemption of Jake the Muss. It picks up the story after he turns his back on his family, and is up to his tricks at McClutchy's Bar. After one of Jake's sons dies suspiciously in a gang fight, another, Sonny (Clint Eruera) seeks revenge, accompanied by a fellow gang member (Nancy Brunning). Scripted by Once Were Warriors author Alan Duff and directed by Ian Mune, Broken Hearted became the second-highest-earning Kiwi film of the 1990s (eclipsed only by Warriors). It scooped most of its categories at the 1999 NZ Film & TV Awards — though not for Rawiri Paratene's acclaimed role as a gang veteran.

Warning: content may offend

A lot of this stuff is like armour for the actors. It helps them create themselves and give themselves the right attitude when they look in the mirror. You don't know where the tattoos stop or start, their cars, their wardrobe, it all becomes one big blend.

– Tattoo artist Inia Taylor on the importance of tattoos and costumes for the cast, in the Broken Hearted press kit, page 14

Key Cast & Crew

Nancy Brunning

As: Tania Rogers

Clint Eruera

As: Sonny Heke

Bill Gavin

Producer

Temuera Morrison

Associate Producer, As: Jake Heke

Rawiri Paratene

As: Mulla Rota

Ian Mune

Director