What do you do, if you left your ”tribe” to live with someone you think is the best person for you and your upcoming family, confident that he will put his family first and got what it takes to be a good father and husband. This is the story of Beth Heke in the movie ”Once Were Warriors”.
The movie ”Once Were Warriors” is about a family know by the name Heke. In that family we have Beth, Nig, Grace, Boogie and Jake Heke also known as Jake the Muss. Jake is unemployed and spends most days getting drunk with his friends. Jake is relentless to his family and has a vicious temper, which means he often fight when he is drunk, as mentioned in the movie he is a slave to his fist. Grace is the oldest daughter and she keeps a journal of events going on through the day, which she tells to her siblings before bedtime.When things seems bad or she got sparetime Grace tends to visit her best friend Toot, who lives in a carwreck. Beth is the mother, she likes to get drunk sometimes just like jake. She is not the best mother. She tries very hard but it's not good enough. She doesn't have much surplus and her ability to be a mom is chipped yet flawed. Nig is the oldest son. He is a member of a street gang and got maori inspired tattoos all over him, including Half part of his face. He is the only one strong enough to take a stand against the family father Jake.
Boogie is also a son of Jake and Beth. He is a criminal and therefor he is put into a foster home.
The family can visit Boogie, but they never got there because of Jake who got drunk in the local pub. After that the whole family is left devastated in due to Jakes acts. The daughter Grace puts most of the blame on her mother Beth, because she was so sure that Jake would take them to see Boogie. After this, Grace got raped by her uncle and wrote it down in her journal. Some days after the rapists came along, Grace committed suicide in the backyard. Beth comes home, after being out all day looking