James and Isey

 Seen at the Alice Cinema, Christchurch, New Zealand

Cecil alone again for this trip!

Cecil says: After 6 days in New Zealand, I thought it was time to see a bit of Maori culture, so chose James & Isey as my Sunday morning film fix.

It’s a documentary just covering the lead-up to Isey’s 100th birthday in April 2019. Her son James says at one point that he wanted to mark the occasion with something special, and he reckoned nobody had done a documentary about a mother and son like this before.

Isey is a feisty lady, brought up by Maori parents who believed that speaking English would give her more of a chance in life, so she actually speaks very little of her family’s native tongue: “Kia ora,” she giggles at one point, like a British tourist might after arriving on a cruise ship and having a ring of flowers draped round their neck.

James, in contrast is a shaman, in touch with the spirits, connecting higher up than just the God we read about in the Bible (he is also Christian by the way, so this does not come across as blasphemous). He knew he had the ‘gift’ at age 5 but the powers only came through in his 40s.

He used to be a rock star, and we see video clips of him singing and gyrating to his 1980s hits; he was transitioning to a career on the stage and screen when he had a stroke, which left him paralysed for 6 months.

I’m not sure of the timeline, but he returned to his parents when his father was diagnosed with cancer, and he has lived there ever since, not really ‘caring for’ his Mum, but living with her ‘in harmony,’ as he describes it.

We are shown scenes of him doing shamanic things on a cow about to the slaughtered, on waters before a fishing trip, and towards the end sitting at the northern tip of New Zealand, his spirits’ home, where the Pacific and Tasman oceans meet.

He says he gets laughed at by mates of his brother and he probably comes across as weird to a 21st century urban and westernised community (in Auckland?), but at the actual 100th birthday party, he looks totally at ease at a ceremony of welcome by local haka performers, male and female.

His Mum Isey has a powerful voice, still. She can (usually) blow out her birthday candles, and right at the end we hear her rendition of ‘Que sera, sera.’ Pretty impressive for a centenarian. The only slightly tense moment I felt - for James especially, though he did well to hide it if he was annoyed - was when one of the older guests, a 92 year old gent, briefly stole the limelight from Isey. This was just after James had said Isey will give us a song, but we ended up hearing the 92 year old giving a song instead, and Isey never got to do her number in front of all her guests…

I feel drawn to shamanism in indigenous culture - Native American also - not that I have fully tapped into any gift I may have, even with my ‘healing hands.’ I have never yet felt any connection to Maori culture, probably because it seems based so totally on prowess in fighting or showing off strength (all those hakas leave me cold I’m afraid), but maybe James and Isey has helped me get a sense of where I’d fit in if Bea and I ever do decide to live long term in New Zealand…

***

All the Wild Hoirses

Seen at the Glasgow Film Theatre

Cecil says: We always try to get along to the GFT on visits to Glasgow and we had a free afternoon so chose this documentary about a 1,000km horserace in Mongolia as the best thing on the programme when we were free. Yes, it’s not an obvious choice and we probably wouldn’t have gone if we had lots of other options for good films at that time. But I’m glad we did.

So, the ‘horse race’ is basically an adventure holiday with a difference, only you need to be able to ride a (wild) horse to take part. It lasts about nine days, and every day each rider gets allotted a new horse to take them on the next leg through the wilds and the heat of Mongolia.

It’s beautifully filmed, though the focus is less on the Mongolian landscape and more on the characters who take part and how the challenge is approached differently by each rider’s different personality.

We have the driven lone Texan girl whose only goal is to win; there are the two Irish jump jockeys who want to win but also rather enjoy teaming up with a couple of the women riders; there’s the black South African horse whisperer, who is surely the favourite among all the film viewers for his magical patience with the more and more difficult rides he is given; and there are the cameo roles by the unfortunate Norwegian girl, the Dutch Alexander Technique teacher and various others who figured less prominently.

There’s heatstroke, broken bones, wolf attacks to battle against; and the nightly hospitality from local Mongolian families who house the riders at the end of each day.

It’s just a captivating insight into a kind of quirky adventure holiday (and surely good for business for the team who run the race each year), but also strangely compelling viewing. Funnily enough, I didn’t really care who won, and that I think is the point also; this is really an event where it’s the taking part that counts. Just pity the poor guy who broke his collar bone about 100m into the race on the first day…

***

Bea says: My sister joined us for this excursion to the GFT and, as we often do, we saw whatever was on at the time that suited us, rather than choosing a film and then going at that time.  There was a choice between this and one other, and we plumped for this, following lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms.  

My sister was sceptical, but in fact we all really enjoyed it.  It is documentary-style, and very absorbing.  Very quickly we were caught up in the logistical issues of organising such a race, the motivations of those taking part – from seasoned horsemen and women to people who just wanted to do something completely different to their usual daily grind – and the local Mongolians who hosted participants and provided the (often) challenging horses.  Following the key participants to the finish line (or not, in some cases) was great.

I was pleased to see the attention paid to horse welfare – which actually had quite an impact on finishing time – and the growth of collegiate bonding between the participants, as they helped each other through the challenges the terrain and conditions presented.  These were important details for me, which made the documentary much more human and intimate, making me really care about what happened to the people involved.

Lots of great views and scenes of traditional tents as well – if you love travel, this one is definitely recommended!

***1/2