Once Were Warriors

I was inspired to read Alan Duff's no holds barred look at poverty, disillusionment, and the destructive lives in the Maori ghetto communities of Auckland in his groundbreaking novel Once Were Warriors (1990) after revisiting the film version and seeing a new documentary about it: Twenty Years Later, Where Are They Now?-'Once Were Warriors.' In the documentary the actors and producers talked about the book and what a sensation it made in the public and the opportunity it created for the film team. However, knowing the basic plot of the book via the film probably detracted from my overall enjoyment since I had a good idea of what was coming next while reading the book. But it was different from the film in several ways-for one the book chapters are written from the perspective of different family members, the plot is changed somewhat, and one of the family members-the second oldest son Abe-is removed from the story altogether for the film. I would go onto to say that the book is much darker than the film, which would probably surprise many viewers since the film is pretty bleak as well. Perhaps, one might say that there is more redemption in the book as well, since it extends to reviving the Maori community not just in terms of personal redemption of the characters.