Review: Red, White and Brass

Red, White and Brass (Family, 115 mins)

Directed by Damon Fepulea’i

‘Red, White and Brass’ is a film for everyone. There are a few subtitled lines, but don’t leave the pre-readers at home: the acting is so good the storyline comes across regardless.

Damon Fepulea’i can look forward to a bright future as a director. Co-writing with Nua Finau, he’s done a great job, weaving in a small amount of real footage to tell the inspiring true story of the Tongan brass band cobbled together in record time for the 2011 World Cup rugby game played in Wellington between France and Tonga. Tickets were too expensive for many, but a band would get in free.

Drawing on the central value of māfana (warm love/ nurturing relationships) and its link with effective leadership, central character Maka, an embarrassing buffoon until the final scenes, learns that a leader has to first be a team member. Maka’s struggle to set his inner performer aside will be interesting to all ages.

A different sort of struggle sits behind the actor who plays Maka, John-Paul Foliaki, who, before turning to music and acting, was working as a graduate lawyer for Auckland consultancy firm PwC, a job that paid good money but led him to depression. After an anxiety attack, he returned to his Tongan roots, focusing his career on mental health and suicide prevention.

Foliaki’s personal life and Foliaki as Maka seemed to merge when reporter Chris Schulz (Stuff, April 27, 2021) quoted him: “I can’t really put it into words but just being on set and … seeing so many Islanders doing so well in their respective fields, it made me so happy to see. Because when one of us is winning, we’re all winning.”

Maka’s ragtag team rapidly turns into a fully functioning brass band, partly thanks to the musical skills of Veni (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who adds to the initial tension among band members by being a non-Tongan language speaker, accused by the others of being white on the inside. There are other tensions to work through too: the team have to deal with rejection by Wellington City Council manager Aroha (Hariata Moriarty) who can say if the band will be allowed to perform, or not. And there are older Pasifika relatives who don’t understand the music, the band, any of it. Persistence and respect are the answers.

Producers include Taika Waititi, turning yet another film to gold, and the co-producers of Waititi’s ‘Boy’ (2010), Ainsley Gardiner and Georgina Allison Conder. Conder, Gardiner and Waititi were also behind Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek’s highly successful ‘The Breaker Uperers’ (2018).

Another commendation is the financial backing the film received from The Screen Production Recovery Fund and MSD. MSD backed four interns during filming, all now with jobs in the film industry.

A triumphant film, for the band, the film-makers and for Wellington, which looks great. It’s laugh out loud fun too.

Highly recommended

The first person to bring an image or hardcopy of this review to Starlight cinema Taupo qualifies for a free ticket to ‘Red, White and Brass’.

Movies are rated: Avoid, Recommended, Highly recommended and Must see.