Directed by: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Written by: Maddie Dai and Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu
Starring: Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall, Stephen Tamarapa, and Rima Te Wiata
Runtime: 83 minutes
‘We Were Dangerous’ is a convincing, captivating, and concerning coming-of-age tale
“Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls”
A bearded workhand named Barry (Stephen Tamarapa) runs, as a one-person welcoming party, toward a group of teenage girls and the headmaster (also called The Matron (Rima Te Wiata)).
He carries a sign that spells out the aforementioned school name.
Of course, this declaration is the furthest from hospitable, even though the locale is a beautiful, rustic spot – a tiny island off New Zealand’s coast – where tourists might spend thousands to travel for a secluded, relaxing vacation and drink fruity drinks that carry teeny umbrellas.
Alas, rest and relaxation are not the reasons for Nellie (Erana James), Louisa (Nathalie Morris), Daisy (Manaia Hall), and about seven other teens’ visit.
They now reside in cramped huts in director/co-writer Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s “We Were Dangerous”, a drama set in 1954 at an oppressive school.
Based on a formal order, a segment of New Zealand’s government ships the teenagers (and The Matron) to the isle as an end-of-the-line solution for their kids’ reform, but, quite frankly, The Matron and the school’s “engineers” don’t demonstrate much hope for the “dangerous” young ladies and their futures.
Te Wiata delivers a memorable and domineering performance. She might be best known as the empathetic but rugged foster mom in “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” (2016). Indeed, the Matron is rugged, but she lacks compassion for children.
The on-screen administrators don’t share sympathy for the schoolgirls, but Stewart-Te Whiu and writer Maddie Dai certainly do. They capture the girls’ naivety, comradery, and indelible, youthful spirits while the teens are placed under despotic, unfair bureaucratic rule during a prudent and effective 83-minute theatrical runtime.
The film offers countless moments in which the girls divulge their limited worldviews but also worldly opinions about their shared predicament. Meanwhile, The Matron also doubles as a narrator and articulates Nellie, Louisa, and Daisy’s diverse histories before landing on this island of misfit toys. Nellie and Daisy came from humble beginnings. Louisa enjoyed an affluent upbringing, but all three still end up in the same troubling spot. Almost immediately, they demonstrate that there’s no “i” in “team”, as the trio collaborate to fix their leaky roof during a torrential rainstorm.
Stewart-Te Whiu’s refreshing camerawork features the ladies lining up – in blue sweaters and gray skirts - for formal attendance counts, disciplinary rants, and more casual moments. On their own time, the girls lay down in wispy fields or huddle in a hut, intertwined with one another and their adolescent giggles, like in “The Virgin Suicides” (1999) or “Mustang” (2015), and not-so-coincidentally, the girls in those movies also (attempted to) cope with dictatorial environments.
Nellie and the younger Daisy might be the closest when stepping onto the island, but Louisa’s new, encouraging presence helps form a rebellious and empathetic triad, as James, Hall, and Morris feel like natural on-screen BFFs. Nellie and Louisa exude older sister vibes towards Daisy, a girl who frequently refers to the Bible but doesn’t know how to read.
The classroom is a frequent setting, and The Matron fills her condescending lessons with pious testimonies and Miss Manners training while a notice stating “From barbarism to domestication” sits above her blackboard.
As one of the Phoenix Film Society members pointed out during a May 8 “We Were Dangerous” screening, the movie draws parallels to 20th-century Native American boarding schools, where assimilation into Western culture was the primary objective. In the movie, indigenous dance and languages are prohibited, and cutting off long hair is a punishment.
This specific story is a fictionalized account, but in a March 19, 2024 hammertonail.com interview by Bears Rebecca Fonte, Dai says, “There are a lot of true historical elements.”
The film is also inspired by Stewart-Te Whiu and Dai’s families.
Stewart-Te Whiu adds, “And my dad actually, his whole childhood, was in a state care home, a boy’s home in New Zealand, so (it is) very real.”
Additionally, Dai’s “great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather” was imprisoned on an island.
In the film, the students bond and test authoritative and cultural boundaries, sometimes with playful tones during the first act, but the second and third acts introduce a graver destination for the girls that infuses despair and hopelessness on-screen and for audiences.
Stewart-Te Whiu and Dai’s story pits our youthful protagonists against the system, religion, colonialism, and The Matron’s rigid taskmaster methods and bitter persona.
Yes, irresistible forces face an immovable, disdainful object as ”We Were Dangerous” effectively builds wonder and anxiety through its heartfelt and troubling performances, Michelle Crowley’s both confining and beautiful art direction, Dai’s astute script construction, and Stewart-Te Whiu’s stewardship.
Granted, the third act does strain the suspension of disbelief with one aspect (which will not be revealed in this review), but otherwise, “We Were Dangerous” is a convincing, captivating, and concerning coming-of-age tale.
Jeff’s ranking
3/4 stars
