The documentary Maori Boy Genius from director Pietra Brettkelly (The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins), tells the true story of 16-year-old Ngaa Rauuira Pumanawawhiti, an intelligent and handsome Maori boy who carries the hopes and aspirations of his family, friends and tribe on his six-foot-five shoulders.
Ngaa’s bedside reading includes Plato, Hobbes and Aristotle. He received a degree in Maori Studies from the local university at age 13 and says he doesn’t have time for girlfriends. From his early years he has been carefully watched by fellow Tahoe tribe members, who have trained and supported him as a future leader of the Maori people.
Brettkelly’s camera follows the young man to a summer school program at Yale University where, surrounded by America’s brightest and most privileged, he is challenged intellectually for the first time in his life. His courses include Introduction to Law and International Politics and Human Rights, and his professor urges students to explore the history and complexity of political activism. Aware of the financial sacrifice his family has made, as well as the expectations of friends and elders back home, he wrestles with disappointment and the fear of failure.
The most absorbing element of the story is watching his struggle to balance traditional Maori culture with the new opportunities presented to him. Nowhere is this captured more beautifully than the absolute elation the boy genius derives from his traditional dance performance condemning the historical oppression of the Maori people, or as he leads a hundred strong protest movement for the protection of Maori land, proudly sporting his Yale university sweater.
Maori Boy Genius is a compelling and important tale of sacrifice, duty and opportunity, in which Brettkelly reveals the gifted boy’s search for knowledge and his determination to prove its liberating power.
Maori Boy Genius is screening during the Sydney Film Festival on June 9 at 6:45pm and June 10 at 12:45pm at Event Cinemas George Street.
