The Maori Merchant of Venice

The Maori Merchant of Venice is a 2002 New Zealand drama film in the Mori language with English subtitles, directed by Don Selwyn.

Almost all the films actors are Mori, many of them acting for the cinema for the first time. Waihoroi Shortland stars as Hairoka Shylock, Ngarimu Daniels as Pohia Portia, Te Rangihau Gilbert as Patanio Bassanio, Scott Morrison as Anatonio Antonio and Veeshayne Armstrong as Nerita Nerissa.According to the New Zealand Film Commission, the film deals with the themes of religious discrimination, revenge for past wrongs, and explores the nature of justice and mercy as well as the effect of heritage on an individuals life decisions and the strength, wit and wisdom of women The Maori take on Shakespeares pound of flesh drama is a story of deep seated social and religious prejudice, in which the Jew Shylock has a long memory of oppression, but revenge is not so sweet. Valerie Wayne, in The Contemporary Pacific, underlined the apparent parallel drawn by the film between the oppression suffered by Shylock because of his Judaism and the sometimes violent subjugation of Mori by the colonial authorities in nineteenth century New Zealand. ........

Source: Wikipedia