Tearepa Kahi (Mt Zion) directs this Aotearoa action thriller, a response to 2007's Tūhoe police raids. Stars Cliff Curtis, Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Manu...
Tearepa Kahi (Mt Zion) directs this Aotearoa action thriller, a response to 2007's Tūhoe police raids. Stars Cliff Curtis, Simone Kessell (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Manu Bennett (Arrow), Jay Ryan (It: Chapter Two) and Tāme Iti as himself.
"True to Kahi’s masterful commitment to centering Indigenous narratives, the film’s heartbeat is held by the locals. Community Sergeant ‘Taffy’ Tawharau (Curtis) has returned home to care for his ailing father. In addition to shuttling the local tamariki to kura and getting kaumātua to their medical check-ups, he must also contend with the rebellious but loveable teenager, Rusty (Poroaki Merritt-McDonald) also recently returned home—but from six months in a Youth Corrections Facility.
"Against this backdrop of whānau and whenua, the police armed offenders squad descends on the sleepy town of Rūātoki—on a school day. Invoking New Zealand’s new anti-terrorism laws, the manhunt begins for Tūhoe activist, Tame Iti, the alleged mastermind behind a potential political uprising and ringleader of military-style training camps in Te Urewera." (Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival)
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A bold and electrifying exploration of the ways narrative storytelling can illustrate big truths without the limitations of documentary filmmaking. It’s moving, gentle, tense and ferocious all at the same time. The possibilities it opens for the ways we think about trauma and history are vast.
92 %12 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® rating
"Curtis deftly captures a man caught between his people and his job, but Muru is mostly an accomplishment in tension, courtesy of a propulsive pace from Kahi."
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RogerEbert.com
RogerEbert.com"Intense and powerful..."
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Salon
Salon"(It accomplishes) quite a bit in its 104-minute running time, but as a profound action film addressing 100 years worth of history, it’s bound to spark a need to learn and explore more."
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Collider
Collider"It looks and sounds fantastic, the A-List cast is dazzling, and the passion driving it seeps into every part of the film."
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Radio New Zealand
Radio New Zealand"A film that ticks every box as a political thriller, as an occasional action movie and as a drama of violence unfolding in a small town."
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Stuff
StuffMuru | Details
- Rating
- MA15+, Strong violence
- Runtime
- 104
- Genre
- Action, Drama, Thriller, True Story & Biography
- Country of origin
- New Zealand
