2. ‘Tama Tū’ (2005)
A still from Waititi’s “Tama Tū.” (Photo: NZ On Screen).
“Tama Tū” is a short film written and directed by Waititi in 2005, when he was still fresh off his first ever Oscar nomination for the short film “Two Cars, One Night” the previous year.
This war film resembles a 17-minute long, low budget silent rendition of his feature film “Jojo Rabbit.” It similarly explores themes of loss of innocence and maturity and disintegration of humanity in a war zone. Additionally, it explores the importance of kinship in such an overwhelming and traumatic situation. Except instead of child soldiers, this tragic-comic insight into war is narrated from the POV of adult soldiers who are taking shelter amidst the dusty ruins of a building in war-torn Europe.
A Thought-Provoking Precursor to ‘Jojo Rabbit’
The film is dedicated to the 28 Māori Battalion and contains some Chaplin-esque humour as the soldiers attempt to use childlike tactics and mischievous antics to distract from the horrors of war and to evade boredom. It also sheds light on differing perspectives of a soldier’s worldview depending on where they’re stationed or positioned during a war outbreak. An example of this can be viewed when a soldier who is stationed near a window on lookout duty is more accustomed to witnessing human casualties firsthand than his fellow soldiers who are stationed within the confines of the building. They are thus unaware of the horrors unfolding outside and are instead lost in their own game of ‘pull my finger,’ or other such genial games to pass the time.
The usage of a monochrome colour palette to portray the stark contrast between the lives that were painfully stolen away due to war and those who were lucky enough to have made it out alive also appealed to me. Viewers might even come away having learnt a thing or two about Māori culture.
You can watch “Tama Tū” on YouTube below:
