Patu!

Film (Full Length) – 1983

Parental Guidance

Merata Mita’s Patu! charts the protests that took place across New Zealand in the winter of 1981, before and during a South African rugby tour. Testament to the courage and faith of both the marchers and a large team of filmmakers, the feature documentary is seen as a landmark in New Zealand screen history. It staunchly contradicts claims by author Gordon McLauchlan of New Zealanders being "a passionless people". Conflicting views about the tour spread to the film itself, with some saying it shouldn't have got any state funding. In 1993, a shortened version screened on TVNZ. Read about Patu! and the tour here.

Yes, Patu! has a Māori perspective, but it does not override the mass mobilisation of New Zealand's white middle class, neither does it take credit from those who rightly deserve it, everyone who put themselves on the line. My perspective encourages people to look at themselves and examine the ground they stand on.
– Director Merata Mita responds to accusations Patu! is biased, in 1992 book Film in Aotearoa New Zealand, page 47