Ka Whawhai Tonu (English title: In the Fire of War) takes place in 1864, during the ongoing conflict between white British settlers and the indigenous Māori of New Zealand.

Haki, or ‘Jack’ (Paku Fernandez) is a young mixed-race man being raised by his father, a British soldier (Jason Flemyng), after the murder of his mother and baby sister by other indigenous ‘rebels’. His grief has driven Haki’s father to become a tyrant, intent on eliminating whatever is left of his late wife’s wider civilisation.

Haki finds himself captured by a group of Māori on the run with their families, and strikes up a friendship with Kōpū (Hinerangi Harawira-Nicholas), a teenage girl who is believed to be a vessel for a god. This doesn’t appear to be a good thing for her, though, as she is caught between her mother’s encouragement of the continued manipulation of those around her and the men in the tribe’s distrust and paranoia. When this paranoia escalates to the point where Kōpū is nearly killed, Haki saves her and some other children, and together they attempt to reach somewhere safe where they can live unscrutinised.

Ka Whawhai Tonu primarily seems to be an exploration of cultural misplacement. The Māori characters all wear a mix of western and traditional clothing, use a mix of weapons – both guns and patu (a sort of carved flat club), and even seem to have blended their religion. This impacts Kōpū especially as her possession is strongly associated with their older ways. The film never questions her status or faith, it suggests she genuinely is a vessel, able to communicate with this God despite not wanting to. Haki too struggles with not fitting in in either place, too white for the Māori and too Māori for the white soldiers, he finds himself the constant butt of jokes and abuse.

The truly singular thing about Ka Whawhai Tonu though, is it’s depiction of warfare. Much of it is familiar, trench warfare as you’d see in any movie about the Somme. The difference here though, is that these trenches are full of families. Women nurse their babies before taking up arms and facing their enemy alongside the men. It is shocking and awe-inspiring at the same time, and truly shows just what a desperate genocide the Māori were facing.

Ka Whawhai Tonu struggles at times to know what story it is trying to tell though, a bit more focus on the children or the war may have made for a stronger cohesion to the narrative, but it is a minor quibble over a film set in a world that we don’t often see. That alone makes it worth a look.

Ka Whawhai Tonu: In The Fire Of War is released on June 13th