This was a great film. A film that represented a strong and realistic history of South Auckland New Zealand through the 90s. As a child myself in this time and brought up in this life, it was great to show a strong message to all female and male. That you don't have to stand for abuse and violence, that you can avoid these bad things happening in your life through some changes.

In urban Auckland, New Zealand, the Heke family is struggling. Jake is unemployed and a violent drunk. He's often drinking with his gang of friends. Beth is a mother with problems of her own. The biggest is that Jake beats on her sometimes. The oldest son Nig joins a Māori gang. The second son Boogie is taken from the family and finds a mentor in foster care under Mr. Bennett. Grace is the sensitive 13 year old daughter who has a homeless friend Toot. The family dysfunctions culminates with Grace's rape by one of Jake's drinking buddies.In more careless hands, this could be a simple Lifetime movie. The violent drunk dad story is not that compelling. This movie shows the mother Beth as more than a victim. It also shows that they truly love each other. The performances are amazing. Jake isn't an one-note character. By tying this to the community's culture, this movie has a sense of power beyond the family.

I saw this film when i was about 14 it was on t.v. And i was blown away it was amazing. It is in my top 10 of all time without a doubt. From beginning to end it is so powerful its unreal. the whole cast were fantastic. Temuera Morrison was just awesome he had to change his personality from scene to scene and the violence he had to portray through out just amazing. The stuff that is in this film must have been hard on all of them it was so gritty and dark and disturbing in a lot of ways but the whole storyline required it for the film to work and it did. the violence in the film so good looked so real rena owen also a great performance for what she had to deal with throughout.The emotional drain on the actors/actress's must have been hard more so in the death scene and the scene where rena finds out why grace killed herself is just so strong and powerful. I have watched this film a lot and i will never get bored of it and its still as strong as the 1st time i watched it. If you haven't seen this before WATCH IT.

Once were warriors" 1994 by LeeTamahori is one of the most powerful films I've seen.Violence seems to play a major role throughout the movie; however, I think violence come from a lack of education and low social communication skills.Jake always gets in a fight when he drinks, but that's the way Jake explains his emotion and also he is struggling to fit the society.The last scene, when Grace commit suicide, that was so sad but I think Grace didn't just gave up her life, she wanted to change her family and she saved her family.