More often than not, we forget that a movie can be a window thatlets us glimpse into experiencesthat we would otherwise never have.Ka Whawhai Tonu(In The Fire Of War) is one of these movies. The story takes place during the New Zealand Wars in 1864 and centers around a Māori-European teenager who is fighting for the British colonial forces and gets captured by the Māori resistance. Collider is thrilled to share an exclusive sneak peek of the drama, which is now available On Demand viaApple TV, Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play, DirecTV, and others.
The trailer forIn The Fire of Warrevealsa high-stakes epicthat brings forward not only the military conflict but also the moral issues and internal biases that are tested in a violent scenario. The sneak peek underscores all of that, as well as the film’s emphasis on the importance of dialogue — it dances betweente reo Māoriand purposely awkward English. Additionally, the sneak peek underscores the epic scale ofIn The Fire of Warand teases one of its intense action scenes.
‘In The Fire of War’ Is a First-Time Feature
At first glance,In The Fire of Warseems like the ambitious feature of an established director, but it’s actually the directorial debut ofMike Jonathan— which certainly signalsa promising career for the filmmaker. Jonathan himself addressed his debut choices in an interview with Collider’sMaggie Lovitt. The director explained that, after working in the film industry for about three decades, he “just kind of went for the jugular, went for something epic with children and animals, and amazing actors.” He continued:
“I thought, ‘Let’s just go there,’ and make a story about my ancestors who fought in this battle in 1864, that mainly fought for their land. And so I just wanted to honor them, all our ancestors. Same as [Temuera Morrison]. He has genealogy in the battle as well. So, after doing research and talking to a lot of the elders, it was just we needed, as New Zealanders, we needed a film like this that was as close to the truth as possible.”
Temuera Morrison(The Mandalorian), who is part of the main cast, was also present in the interview and revealed thatIn the Fire of War’s younger cast “steal the show,” even though none of them went to drama school. Morrison explained that they are able to feel it and convey it in their acting because “it’s in the blood” and “the emotion was just there.”
In The Fire of Waris available On Demand via Apple TV, Prime Video, Fandango at Home, Google Play, DirecTV, and others. you may check out our exclusive sneak peek above.
