New Zealander Lee Tamahori’s new film offers a note to audiences before the film begins. It briefly establishes the dynamics of life for the Māori in early 19th century New Zealand and warns of the inevitable change that will come when two major things arrive to change their way of life – guns, and Christianity. It’s a provocative start to the film, setting readers up for a historical account into the relationship between British colonisation and indigenous culture. The film’s very title, “The Convert”, suggests that Christianity – and the implications of its relationship with colonial and cultural genocide will be paramount. Unfortunately, little in “The Convert” lives up to the dramatic potential of that initial bit of information, or any of the potential plot-points that the film approaches only to abandon in muted ambivalence.
Gin Loane’s camera introduces us to the world of “The Convert”, shot on the beautiful North Island of New Zealand, with water and land stretching as far as the eye can see. We start on a ship where we meet Guy Pearce’s Thomas Munro. Munro is a lay minister who is destined for Epworth, a British settlement where he’s expected to perform missionary work.
For most of “The Convert” we know little of Munro beyond his insistence on kindness.