Emotional Downpour

interview with Vincent Ward, director of RAIN OF THE CHILDREN

Few filmmakers who have enjoyed the level of success of New Zealand’s Vincent Ward would consider returning to the subject of a documentary they made 27 years ago. However the focus of Ward’s IN SPRING ONE PLANTS ALONE, a film made when he was only 21, has proved to be an itch he has been unable to scratch. Until now.

A powerful and extremely brave piece of cinema vérité, Ward’s original documentary examined the life of Puhi, an elderly Maori woman and her paranoid schizophrenic son Niki. The experience had a profound effect on the young filmmaker although it was very nearly over before it started. Ward remembers, “It was very hard because within the first minute of filming she threw us out. She said there were ghosts in the camera and she screamed at us in Maori. Her son who had a wicked sense of humour had been telling her that the lights we had put up were explosive devices.” Despite this Ward continued to spend time with Puhi, driving her into town and repairing things around her house for her. As their relationship developed, she gradually lowered her defences and ultimately agreed to be filmed. “Initially I thought I’d film it in 2 weeks but it actually took me 18 months to finish. It was like filming rare birds; you have to be very respectful.”

The resulting film is a beautiful and touching portrait of a disappearing culture and the love of a mother for her son. Never is this more perfectly articulated than in a scene showing Puhi unwrapping an ice cream for Niki, of which Ward describes, “It’s the kind of scene you could never dream up if you’re writing.” IN SPRING ONE PLANTS ALONE however raised more questions for Ward than answering them and that is what drew him back to Puhi’s story. “There were a lot of questions about where she’d come from, who she was and how she’d become who she was, and it played on my mind and wouldn’t go away. I really wanted to put those thoughts to rest.”

Employing documentary footage and dramatised sequences, RAIN OF THE CHILDREN unlocks the secrets of a fascinating life marked by tragedy and a woman’s courage to survive against remarkable odds to protect her last remaining child. In making the film, Ward involved the local community both in documentary interviews and in dramatic reconstructions, with direct descendants of Puhi’s bloodline playing her at various stages in the film. Ward explains, “I really wanted it to become their film as well as my film, I wanted it to be our film and I worked very hard to achieve that.”

Adding to the wonderfully personal nature of the piece is Ward’s own presence in the film. Rather than detaching himself by being a mere voiceover he assumes a place within the heart of the story. “I was very reluctant to go there, but in the end I thought it was two stories intertwined and if I was going to expose her story then I had to some degree expose myself. I was invested in this personally.” The resulting culmination of these deeply personal investments from both Ward and Puhi’s Maori community provides a film of beauty and heartfelt emotion likely to induce prolonged spells of tears.

RAIN OF THE CHILDREN is screened on Sunday 27 September at 8.45pm

CHRISTOPHER PECK