Leadership In Whale Rider

“When she was born, that’s when things went wrong for us…”
The film, Whale Rider, written and directed by Niki Caro, is a simple one but with a lot of plot meaning behind it. The original novel was written by male author, Witi Ihimaera, who is a Maori author having written 3 books about his cultural beliefs. Whale Rider is well-loved in New Zealand, and now it has touched the hearts of all people around the world. “Leadership is not about shouting and screaming. It’s about being the person that serves the rest and creates an environment in which people feel encouraged to do their best work.” says Niki Caro, when asked about her film, which was available in Australia on May 8th 2003. The film went on to receive 12 different awards – to Keisha

Whales are the sacred animals to Whangara – seeing them beached broke the hearts to all of Maori community. They try their best to lead them back into the water, and even with the aid of a tractor, their attempts lead to no avail. Pai watching on from the shores, decides to lead the whales out herself, reaching out to touch the largest whale, but being denied quickly, having been told off by Koro who reprimands her saying, “Do not touch it! You have done enough.” she sneaks up to it when no one is watching however, ignoring her grandfather’s instructions, and coaxes the largest whale back out into the water. She successfully rides the whale, leads her out into the water, at one point going underwater, which would soon after drown her. Koro watching her sink into the water, finally realises how great of a leader Pai is, realising also all of what he has done to her. Nanny Flowers, beside him is angered at how long it took for him to become aware of what he has done to her, says “Yeah you look at her now. You watch her go down into that water. You realise now don’t you?” and places the tooth Pai had collected earlier into his