A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Convert” (2024).
“The Convert”, starring Guy Pearce, is due for release on Video-on-Demand platforms on October 14th. (I’m not sure of which platforms at the moment – please check the Justwatch widget at the bottom of this page for details when available.) It’s really a great shame that this didn’t get a UK cinema release (as far as I can see, it didn’t). Because it’s a movie that really would have been a big-screen spectacular and, I think, done good business. I thought it was bloody good!
Bob the Movie Man Rating:
Plot Summary for “The Convert”:
New Zealand, 1830. Priest Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) arrives to minister at an outpost in the new colony amidst civil war between the different Maori tribes on the island. The British immigrants view the locals as cannibal savages, often for good reason. He has to use all of his skills to try to spread God’s word of love and forgiveness amidst a background of chaos.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. This is not yet rated by the BBFC but I would expect it to be a ’15’ based on scenes of violence and discrimination.
Talent:
Starring: Guy Pearce, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Antonio Te Maioha, Jacqueline McKenzie, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Lawrence Makoare, Duane Evans Jr., Madeleine McCarthy .
Directed by: Lee Tamahori.
Written by: Shane Danielsen & Lee Tamahori. (Story by Michael Bennett. Based on a novel by Hamish Clayton.)
Running Time: 1h 59m.
“The Convert” Summary:
Positives:
- ‘Western’ treatment uprooted in novel style to New Zealand.
- A solid, dependable performance by Guy Pearce.
- Genuinely exciting action scenes, especially in the finale.
Negatives:
- The story is a little disjointed.
Review of “The Convert”:
Yee haw… a western without the West.
I know nothing of the history of New Zealand other than that the Māori people were the indigenous people and they were no doubt pretty pissed off when boat loads of Brits arrived to lay claim to their precious islands. This is the environment we are pitched into in this film and it feels fresh and novel. (A little bit of research has revealed a 1954 film called “Land of Fury” starring Jack Hawkins set 10 years earlier and of course there’s 1993’s Oscar winner “The Piano” set 20 years later in history.) We are effectively in the ‘Wild West’ here, but with the Māoris replacing the American Indians. Just as the US settlers faced terrible dangers from the natives (as recently depicted in “Horizon – An American Saga: Part 1“) so the British settlers were walking on egg-shells with the Māori. This isn’t helped by the Brits showing no effort to integrate or respect the locals as their equals.
However, unlike most Westerns, most of the fighting happens between the different Māori tribes with the immediate threat to the settlers being the replacement of their local landlord by one significantly more fiercesome!
And fighting there is, with some of it being quite brutal. This culminates in a finale which feels rather “Magnificent Seven” like in nature. Very violent; very brutal but also very exciting and good cinema.
Pearce leads a pretty unknown cast.
The only name I knew in the whole cast was Guy Pearce. A great job he does too. A scene where he recounts a traumatic period in his past is extremely moving. Known or otherwise, the rest of the ensemble cast – comprising a large number of Māori actors – also do a great job. Jacqueline McKenzie plays Charlotte, a lady with an interesting backstory and Munro’s love interest in the piece.
I particularly liked a delicately handled taboo-teen-love story between the Māori Pahirua (Duane Evans Jr.) and the settler girl Bethany Madeleine McCarthy) with good acting from both of the pair. A scene in a church is very sweet. This sub-plot ends with a particular event. The story never bottomed-out what happened and why. I quite liked the uncertainty. It left you to come up with your own scenario.
What happens to the first lot?
For me, the story left something to be desired. We spend the first half of the film in the settler community, building up some of the characters and the conflicts within that community. But then we more elsewhere and keep moving, never to return there. I would have expected the story to loop back so we include some of those townspeople again. Couldn’t the Maori tribe have moved there to make their ‘last stand’, forming more of an alliance with the ‘pāha’ white-men?
New Zealand backdrop
All of the action is, of course, framed against the backdrop of the unspoilt New Zealand coastline. (Filming took place around West Aukland and Northland regions.) Very beautiful it looks too.
A horse and a ship!
You know how sometimes niggly questions arise when you’re watching a film? Munro has a beautiful white horse aboard the tall ship that he arrives on. In one spectacular scene he swimd from the moored ship to the beach, climbing on top as the horse reaches the beach. (How did the horse got off the ship? I haven’t questioned that. I imagine, with suitable encouragement, it could be forced to jump off the deck into the ocean. But I couldn’t work out, since this beach is not their final destination, how exactly they were planning to get the horse back on the ship without the benefit of a dock and a gangplank!
As it turns out – no spoilers – they didn’t need to. (Don’t fret horse lovers. No white horses were harmed during the making of this film either in fiction or fact!)
Summary Thoughts on “The Convert”
This is a terrific little adventure movie, novel and engaging, with good performances and great action sequences. It’s just a great shame that I couldn’t get to see the film on the big screen. But this is well worth catching when it hits VoD services from October 14th. Recommended.
Where to Watch it (Powered by Justwatch)
Trailer for “The Convert”:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI4Z7t3AZ5E .
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