We Were Dangerous: Movie Review

Cast: Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall, Rima Te Wiata
Director: Josephine Stewart-Tewhiu

Tapping into a desire to be rebellious, and a darker wish to escape the patriarchy, We Were Dangerous offers plenty of pleasures from its young cast in a coming-of-age tale that’s centred in horror.

But a sudden tonal shift in its last third act makes the film feel like it was rushed to a conclusion and a lack of a wider scope outside of the main trio and their nemesis Rima Te Wiata’s Matron leaves it with a catharsis that doesn’t quite hit the highs that it should.

Fortunately, the deft light way the dark material is handled by first time director Tewhiu makes for a breezier approach to an extremely unsettling premise.

Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall play Nelly, Lou and Daisy, a trio of girls who are part of a school for delinquent girls in 1954 and who spend their days plotting escape from the terror reign of Te Wiata’s matron.

 After an early breakout goes awry, the whole school – Matron too – is punished, and shipped out to a remote island where the exuberant girls can avoid the temptations of an oncoming onslaught of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll.

But when the Matron’s approached and asked to do the unthinkable, the girls’ desire to live becomes a desperate one of survival – and a race against time. For a film which flirts with darkness, We Were Dangerous has a penchant for a joie de vivre and a camaraderie among friends as it spools out over its brief 82 minutes.

All the men in the film are utterly despicable, espousing appalling beliefs from the time as they try to enable Matron’s mission to “Christianise, civilise and assimilate” the girls into the next stages of their life – domesticity. The one notable exception is Stephen Tamapara’s caretaker Barry, who shows the girls what a decent man is capable of.

Te Wiata plays Matron as an initially complex and conflicted character, before morphing into full villain-mode. An early diatribe against the phrase about life giving you lemons is notably hilarious; but her countenance drastically changes as the burden of her decision begins to way on her.

Equally, the trio of leads sell girlhood in a relatable and universal way.

Balancing both the vivaciousness of early life with the reality of their oppression, each brings something unique to their roles.

But it’s Hall’s turn as Daisy that lingers most in the mind afterwards, her character sunny and upbeat despite the inherent sadness of her life then and now. Tewhiu’s directing keeps the film zipping along, from the handsomely helmed shots of the girls dancing together to being collapsed in the long grass of the island, she finds the beauty of each moment both from within nature and also from her actors. 

We Were Dangerous has delight in the darkness and offers up some great performances, but its sudden conclusion sadly may not enrapture everyone.