Taking cues from author Hamish Clayton’s 2011 novel “Wulf” is Lee Tamahori’s latest return to the director’s chair with period Māori epic drama, The Convert. A March 14 release is in order for the pic following its World Premiere in Toronto last Fall.
New Zealand in the 1830s is a Māori world, dominated by tribal wars. Seeking redemption from a dark past, lay preacher Thomas Munro (GUY PEARCE) is on board a trading vessel heading to the newly established town of Epworth, a British settlement in that far corner of the world.
When the ship anchors for repairs, Munro finds himself caught up in a battle between Māori tribes and witnesses the slaughter of innocents at the hands of chief Akatārewa (LAWRENCE MAKOARE). Munro manages to save the life of Rangimai (TIOREORE NGATAI-MELBOURNE), the daughter of Maianui (ANTONIO TE MAIOHA), a rival chief whose land Epworth leases in a delicate arrangement.
As Munro begins to experience the white townsfolk’s entrenched racism and paranoia towards the Māori, he finds himself increasingly ostracised within the community he is meant to serve and realises he has been brought to this isolated British outpost merely to add the veneer of civilisation.
Tamahori directs from a script he penned with Shane Danielsen. The cast is led by Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha, Jacqueline McKenzie, and Lawrence Makoare.
