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| UTU [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ] | ![UTU [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XVP3M1B4L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Geoff Murphy
Studio: Magna Pacific
Category: DVD
Buy New: $30.99
New (1) Used (1) from $30.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 111279
Format: Import, Pal, Director's Cut, Widescreen
Languages: English (Unknown), English (Original Language)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 120
UPC: 931584200930
EAN: 0931584200930
ASIN: B000BUPDVK
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | THIS DVD WILL NOT WORK ON STANDARD US DVD PLAYER |
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Product Description
Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD:it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ),WIDESCREEN, SPECIAL FEATURES: Scene Access, Uncut,SYNOPSIS: In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Maori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.-Utu is the Maori word for "Retribution," which sums up the chief motivating factor of this New Zealand-produced drama. Set in the 1870s, the film details the exigencies of British Colonial rule. A Maori scout Anzac Wallace stumbles across a native village that has been destroyed in a British raid. Since it is the scout's own village, he deserts the British army, the better to seek "utu." Leading a vigilante force consisting of his fellow Maoris, Wallace kills as many British settlers as he can get his hands on. The feverish conviction of Wallace's crusade is in stark contrast to the attitudes of the British, who seem more concerned with material possessions than with human beings. Popular "down under" star Bruno Lawrence is cast as a vengeance-driven settler who makes it his personal mission in life to end Wallace's reign of terror. The most expensive New Zealand-filmed project to date, Utu was an enormous success upon its first domestic release; the American version runs some 15 minutes shorter than the original.
SCREENED/AWARDED AT: Fantasporto Awards,
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| Customer Reviews:
 "The Spirits Of My People Command Me, I Must Kill The White Man For What He Has Done" December 12, 2007
Note: This DVD cannot be viewed in the America's without a multi-region player.
Based on a true account of the Maori uprising of 1870, 'Utu' posits the often asked and all important question "Who are the savages amongst us?" In this particular case is it the native Maori of New Zealand who dared defy British occupation and rule, or was it English arrogance and total lack of concern for the native culture that brought about the eventual end of British Colonialism in the area?
Brutal, violent, uncompromising, yet at the same time it contains moments of unexpected humor. Another great film in a long line of movies to come out of Australia and New Zealand. Unforgetable performances by Anzac Wallace as the rebellious Te Wheke and Bruno Lawrence as the white settler obsessed with avenging his wife's death.
Some lessons are never learned. Savages come in all forms, colors and disguises.
Blood for blood May 8, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Utu - Maori for `Blood for Blood' - is almost a great film. It's certainly a terrific `Western,' even if it is set in New Zealand in 1870. It's a Maori version of any number of Westerns where Geronimo jumps the reservation and starts a private war, with Anzac Wallace's army tracker Te Wheke deserting when he finds the British Army have destroyed his peaceful village and seeking revenge on all the `Pakehas.' As his guerrilla war continues, more and more Maori soldiers desert to Te Wheke's cause (not always welcome, either), preconceived notions of right and wrong are challenged as alliances and agendas shift until nobody's hands are clean.
Director and co-writer Geoff Murphy really knows how to use the camera to best effect and uses the landscape superbly, capturing the wet humid feel of a country at once half-built and already decaying, but more than that he tells a great story with some terrific scenes that hark back to a style of classic but morally complex storytelling that went out of fashion in the late 60s and early 70s. There's also a level of savagery that's long been lost in American cinema - not only does he hang the verger from bell rope but he also hacks off the head of the vicar in front of his congregation and then delivers a sermon of his own with the head resting beside him on the pulpit. The action scenes are superbly handled, at once brutally realistic and engrossing. Unfortunately he miscalculates with Bruno Lawrence's initially intriguing settler seeking revenge of his own, overplaying the comedy in his madness. It's not enough to overbalance the film but it does undermine the character, and it's often unnecessary in a film which has a lot of dry wit in the script already.
Sadly the DVD copy is pretty disgraceful, a real pity for a film that looks this good.
 New Zealand - Last of its Mohicans February 6, 2006
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
More than a century ago New Zealand, or Aotearoa as the Maori people call it, went through the Maori Wars when the British authority attempted to enforce its control there. New Zealand was and still is the only former British colony taken by treaty and not by force. The story is about the Maori people and their plight for justice in an Imperial system. Its about honour and the preservation of traditional ways of life. Although the characters are largely ficticious there is no ficticous dipiction of traditional hakas or the subtitled sections of Maori language. Anyone who can understand the point of view of native peoples wishing to preserve their society will find merit in this film.
From a cinematic perspective, its an old film. Some of the scene transitions might not make sense to persons who have not spent much time in New Zealand or among Maori. Understand that the term Utu translates to "consequences". But it means more the consequences of your specific actions.
I lived there for a fair spell of time. The Maori are a noble if not troubled people there on the edge of the world.
Utu is an incredible film which captures the spirit and the power of the Maori people. Frankly, they are the best people in New Zealand if not the South Pacific.
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