White Lies (2013 New Zealand film)


White Lies is a 2013 New Zealand film directed by Dana Rotberg and starring Whirimako Black, Antonia Prebble, and Rachel House. It is based on the Witi Ihimaera novel, Medicine Woman. The film premiered in New Zealand cinemas on 27 June 2013. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

Plot

White Lies is a story about the nature of identity: those who deny it and those who strive to protect it. Paraiti is a medicine woman. She is the healer and midwife of her rural, tribal people - she believes in life, but new laws prohibit unlicensed healers. On a rare trip to the city, she is approached by Maraea, the servant of a wealthy woman, Rebecca, who seeks her knowledge and assistance to hide a secret that could destroy Rebecca's position in European settler society. If the secret is uncovered, a life may be lost, but hiding it may also have fatal consequences. Paraiti, Maraea and Rebecca thus become players in a head on clash of beliefs, deception and ultimate salvation.
In the extras of the DVD, Witi Ihimaera tells how his mother took him to Paraiti, a tohunga/healer who cured him of a breathing problem. In writing the story, he wanted to honour the various tohunga in Maori life. In 1907, the New Zealand government passed the Tohunga Suppression Act to outlaw natural healing for Maori.
Some people believe the author of the book drew on the life of Anglo-Indian actress Merle Oberon and the hiding of her true ethnic origin.

Cast