Once Were Warriors
Footprint Films | Release Date: March 3, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
By choosing to bludgeon the audience with ever-worsening tales of woe, Once Were Warriors paradoxically blunts its power, though the truth is that people may be too shell-shocked to notice. [03 Mar 1995, p.F1]
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
There are moments in the punishing drama Once Were Warriors that are supremely difficult to watch, but you can't tear your eyes away. Once these characters -- a violence-prone Maori family living in contemporary New Zealand -- get hold of you, you're in for the long haul. [09 Feb 1995, p.1G]
75
Baltimore SunStephen Hunter
It's a fine, fierce and nearly unforgettable movie. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
At once upsetting and highly involving, it packs an undeniable punch. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The director's key achievement is creating a convincing sense of daily life in the household and neighborhood. This is not a narrow drama that focuses on a few themes; it paints a whole style of life, the good times with the bad. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
You may not want to accept what you see here; you may be unable to accept it. But it's doubtful you'll leave this film unmoved. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
You can feel director Lee Tamahori doing his best to get a rise out of you. Yet his work has fire and substance, too. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Once Were Warriors works, to some degree, on three levels: the visceral, the emotional, and the intellectual, and it is the amalgamation of these that makes this a memorable film. Read full review
75
Washington PostRita Kempley
An uncompromising, emotionally draining drama that presents the urbanization of New Zealand's Maori as a cultural disaster, one that is mirrored in the shards of a shattering marriage. This explosive first film by director Lee Tamahori focuses on the transformation of a battered wife, but its story is fueled by the machismo of the disenfranchised Maori male. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Once Were Warriors has more to say than the traditional TV-movie about spousal abuse. But some viewers will have to pay a price: This is a movie that requires strength and fortitude to sit through. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
A brutally effective family drama. Rough around the edges and crudely obvious at times, it still presents a raw, disturbing story of domestic strife. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Domestic violence has never been more savagely portrayed on screen. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A movie that's lean, unsentimental and hard around the edges -- a gut- grabber that stays with you for days afterward. Read full review
88
The Seattle TimesJohn Hartl
Mamaengaroa Kerr-Bell, who plays Grace, had never acted before, and neither have a couple of the other key players. But under the careful direction of television veteran Lee Tamahori, they all do credible and forceful work. Read full review
80
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
A gritty human drama evoking the residual vibrancy of a threatened culture. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
There's a documentary-like realism to the movie, thanks to its authentic Maori cast and Tamahori's semi-improvisational approach to direction. Tamahori also gives everyone a sympathetic, realistic dimension. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerDavid Armstrong
A grim, well-realized film from New Zealand. It is an impressive first feature for its director, Lee Tamahori, and a splendid dramatic vehicle for its stars, especially Rena Owen, who gives a gritty portrayal of a Maori woman fighting to stand her ground in a violent ghetto household. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
There's little new here, but uniformly powerful performances (especially Owen's) give the tale unexpected power and depth, and the exotic details--like the elaborate tribal tattoos worn by Nig's gang, or the Maori chants Boogie learns in reform school--make the Heke family's descent into misery seem fresher than it otherwise might. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
The film's story is both culturally specific and broadly universal and that duality is a large part of what makes Once Were Warriors work. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Stratton
Pic deserves nurturing, because it’s one of the best to emerge from New Zealand in quite a while. Tamahori, working from Riwia Brown’s intelligent script, has done a marvelous job in depicting the day-to-day horror of the Heke family, which is held together only by its women, the sorely tried Beth and her eldest daughter, 16-year-old Grace. Read full review
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