New Zealand Listener - 09.07,2019

SEPTEMBER 7 2019 LISTENER

FOR MY FATHER’S KINGDOM

directed by Vea Mafile‘o and Jeremiah Tauamiti

I

t’s rare to find a documentary about

something small: a little life, so often

shunned or ignored. But pay atten-

tion to the wisdom that comes from

Saia Mafile‘o’s lips, for it is worth more

than every fawning celebrity portrait ever

made.

From the first few frames, we under-

stand that Vea Mafile‘o’s study of her

Tongan pensioner

father, Saia, has a

rather ironic title: the

“kingdom” of which

she speaks is a small

South Auckland house

with a kumara patch,

and a carport turned

into a smoking shed.

Saia’s only job is a paper

run at 2am, all so that

he can give and give

again to the church. Misinale – an annual

church celebration involving the practice

of tithing that would gall an unknowing

Pālangi viewer – sees Saia cough up thou-

sands of dollars, money he does not have.

There’s tension between tradition and

modernity, between the individual and

the communal. Vea gently (very gently)

criticises this practice for the strain it puts

on families with no means. The church

insists on self-sacrifice, even self-abne-

gation, but not for the enrichment of its

ministers. It is for the parishioners and

their families in times of need.

Yet, as the film begins to touch the

fault-lines of the Mafile‘o family, reaching

back into a fractured past, we come to

understand that the co-director is refer-

ring to a mental kingdom, a map of the

morals and values that her father holds

dear: humility, dedication, forgiveness – a

richer inheritance.

The family follow him back to Tonga

for the 150th anniversary of his old

school, a celebration that proves to be a

catalyst: long-suppressed emotions come

rushing back, and his

children begin to under-

stand his sacrifices, and

his devotion to church

and community.

One of the most

moving scenes – of which

there are many – comes

towards the end, as Saia

and his son, Robert, sit

in a bare farming shed.

Their conversation is

conducted in the somewhat stunted

tones of the male heart-to-heart, and ends

with “How about a cup of tea, eh?” But

underneath the rugged unsentimental-

ity is a sense of profound honesty and

restitution.

For My Father’s Kingdom is a tender,

generous, at times almost unbearably

intimate story of a person – of a whole

world – so often obscured.

IN CINEMAS NOW

A world of

difference

An intimate portrait

of a Tongan pensioner

is filled with honesty

and sacrifice.

The co-director

is referring to a

mental kingdom, a

map of the morals

and values that her

father holds dear.

Films are rated out of 5:

(abysmal) to (amazing)

Saia Mafile‘o on his

paper run in For My

Father’s Kingdom:

devoted to his church.

FILM

by James Robins