Whale Rider (2002)

Personal Movie Rating: 60%

Here is my thought on the movie "Whale Rider" (2002):

*WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT*

Different Generations Face Different Challenges in Different Psychosocial Stages of Life

The film "Whale Rider" tells the story of a Maori community struggling to find a new successor to lead the tribe. The current chief of the tribe, Koro (Rawiri Paratene), was disappointed and dissatisfied with the fact that the his sons showed no interest in taking over his position. Koro was worried that he might be the last and final chief of his tribe. Even worse, Koro's grandson died at birth, and the only succession option left was his granddaughter, Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes). However, due to the tribe's past tradition that only allowed males to take the role of the chief, Koro refused to accept Paikea as his successor. After Paikea succeeded at the traditional task of retrieving the whale tooth, Koro finally approved of Paikea and declared her as the new chief of the tribe. 

The film depicted the different challenges faced by different generations in different psychosocial stages of life. First of all, Paikea.  In the film, Paikea was in the stage of industry vs inferiority. In this stage, she faced challenges at developing her sense of competence. At this age, Paikea's major source of self-esteem was her peer group. She felt the need to gain approval by doing things that were valued by the tribe. However, due to her gender, Koro didn't include Paikea in his cultural school to train a new leader. Hence, she wasn't in the best circumstance to develop her self-competence. Luckily, Paikea's grandmother, Nanny (Vicky Haughton), always provide support whenever Koro tried to put her down. Furthermore, Paikea's uncle, Rawiri (Grant Roa), and friend, Hemi (Mana Taumaunu) taught her the traditional stick fighting technique even though Koro prohibited her from attending the lessons. Due to the support from her families (except Koro) and friend, the increase in Paikea's self-competence led to her becoming the new chief of the tribe. 

On the other hand, Koro faced challenges in another stage that was different from that of Paikea. Koro was in the stage of generativity vs stagnation. At this stage, Koro's main concern was to find a new leader who is capable of leading his tribe. He volunteered to teach the young boys at his cultural school in order to prepare them to be competent enough to lead the tribe. In addition, it might be possible that Koro faced challenges in the stage of ego integrity vs despair as well. Koro was dissatisfied with the fact that none of his trainees were competent enough to become the new chief of the tribe. For a short period of time, Koro tried to avoid other people as he was disappointed with himself. This indicated that he felt dispirited or dejected due to the fact that he was unable to achieve one of his major goals in life.