The Convert (2023) Movie Review: Exploring The Complexities of Faith and Power

Giving deep insights into imperialism, The Convert, directed by Lee Tamahori transports the viewers into an alternate landscape from the world that is today to what it was in the 1830s and paints the picture of what life was amongst the Maori tribes of the island of New Zealand. Thomas Munro played by Guy Pearce is shown to be traveling or like the script puts it, is waiting to be ‘delivered’ to the British Settlements to preach Christianity to the British settlers. Coming from a family of ship-builders and having had served in the army, Munro, from the very onset appeared to be a character that was holding in unspeakable truths and secrets. As he says at the start of the film, those who are at sea truly grasp the enormity of this world and it is a frightening thing to be made so closely aware of one’s own insignificance. One wonders, why did a minister feel so insignificant especially at a time when religion played a major role in one’s personal life.

Upon stopping onto an island for wood, and witnessing the assassination of one tribe’s members by another, Munro appears to realize that his task at instigating religion into the souls of the ‘civilized’ is much simpler than bringing peace into the lives of the traditional inhabitants of the islands, who much like the people of the world, were intolerant towards coexistence. From there, he brings a young widow under his care and takes her with him to Epworth. Epworth was originally a town in Lincolnshire, England which was the birthplace of the early leaders of the Methodist movement and has been named after the segment of Christianity dominated that part of the island. While preaching Christianity and allowing for the two Maori tribe members under the British care to be present during a ceremony in the church, a few high-brow members pointed out how they, the Maoris, were savages praying to twigs and leaves and the British had to uphold the divide between them to keep the distinction of being superior to them. This is reflected in the statement Munro was told on arriving on the island, “if you’ve come to win souls for Jesus, you’re going to be busy.”

The divide created by the British and the role they played in maintaining that very divide amongst the people, has been portrayed beautifully in the film when the Maori lad under the British care was murdered by a few members of the settlement when one’s daughter started developing closeness with him, a member was beaten into admitting killing the boy, no one agreed to help the Maori girl under the reverend’s wing when she was injured, how the settlers were astonished when the girl wore an “English gown” and danced better than the English women at a pub. How the British supplied muskets and other weapons to members of the different tribes in return for their produce, enabling savagery in the truest sense when they were at each other’s throats despite being the earliest inhabitants of the same land. How the British encouraged this behavior to uphold their superior nature and comparatively lesser violent behaviors to prove their evolved state of being. The ‘us’ v/s ‘them’ is a strong theme that plays through the film, making it an uncomfortable but an important watch for anthropologists and the curious alike. “It feels like a sculpture in its early stages. Its true form had yet to emerge from the stone” said Munro on being asked about his impression of Epworth.

Monroe asked one of the tribes to not spend on muskets as it only increases war and peace was probably more worthwhile to follow and life must be revered. They asked him to convince the other tribe and if he returned alive then they would follow his God, the god of peace and Christianity instead of their own. “Only blood redeems blood.” Haven’t we been warned of this very behavior by every philosopher and war expert in the world? It only takes one moment of choosing differently that turns the world on its toes. One needs to forgive to change the history of their people and the history of the people that are forgiven which makes the ultimate as has been displayed at the ending of the film. The Convert beautifully displays the arrogance of one in their own land and the provision they are wrongfully provided to maintain that dominance which more often than not, serves against them.

Who is the convert, then? This is a question that has a manifold answer. An easy answer would be Guy Pearce’s character who decides to settle into the Maori land and to become a counsel to the now British-ized Maoris four years later acting under the crown or one could refer again to the previously referred to the tribe that agreed to convert to Christianity if peace was agreed upon by the superior tribe that was ultimately defeated. Or was it the British settlers who decided to cohabitate with the original settlers of the land and marry into them and live there for good. Under any circumstance and whoever the real convert was, the film slowly burnt into a beautiful cinematic masterpiece that was Gin Loane’s beautiful capture of the visual metaphors that spoke of life in its cyclical and inevitable form. From the powerful would defeat the weak to the natural order of life where peace is the only sustainable decision, the cinematography is one of the only elements that captures the attention of the audience and enthralls them. This movie has beautifully captured the message of the novel, Wulf by Hamish Clayton, and carried on its shoulder the authenticity the script demanded of its surroundings and dialogues.