Te Wao Nui
2020 · 10m · New Zealand
Directed by Ngāriki Ngatae
Genres: documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
A Māori healer draws on mātauranga Māori in a final effort to save Aotearoa's kauri forests from kauri dieback, one tree at a time.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Expects this to be reverent eco-doc wallpaper, but Ngatae's decision to center mātauranga as *method* rather than metaphor actually makes the political move feel earned—though it's probably too respectful for its own good.
A quietly rigorous film that situates indigenous knowledge systems within documentary tradition without genuflecting; the pacing and visual restraint show a filmmaker acutely aware of how contemplation functions as formal argument.
The choice to let the healer's hands do most of the talking—how Ngatae frames touch and proximity over explanatory voiceover—transforms what could've been another nature film into something tactile and specific to this exact practice.