We watched Operation 8 tonight at the Dome Cinema here in Gisborne. I don’t know where to start with this documentary other than, I cried, I got angry, I laughed in bits too but deep down in my heart I realised that nothing has changed from when our ancestors lived to today…
I thought about those who had gone before, I thought about my own family, my life. I thought about those mokopuna at Ruātoki who will never forget the day of the police raids, never… those whānau whose lives were invaded, mistreated, disrespected…
It really hurt to see this… and looking back through our history, nothing has changed…
There is so much I want to say and perhaps I will leave it to others to share their kōrero but I will finish with this whakaaro…
At the end of the documentary there was a young kōtiro – Majic, singing a beautiful waiata and it reminded me of a wānanga I was at not long after the police raids on Ruātoki in Oct 2007. At this wānanga there were a group of us artists, sharing and creating art in many forms and sharing whakaaro about many things including the importance of art in our society today.
It reminded me to keep telling our stories, to share our messages of hope through our art, to share with others who we are. So it encourages me, that we as artists have a mission, we are needed in this world to make a difference, to bring about change and when I hear this kōtiro singing her waiata for the people, it fills me with hope for our future…
Kia kaha koe Majic, you and all our rangatahi are the voice for the people to carry us into the future.
Arohanui,
Jo x
The trailer for the documentary can be seen on You Tube here: Operation 8 Trailer Gisborne has another screening on Sunday at the Dome Cinema at 4pm. They also have an official movie FB page where you can check out screening times and find out more about the movie. FB page is: Operation 8: Deep in the forest.
And I hear along the FB kumara vine that Majic has an album coming out soon – watch this space, this girl has got a beautiful voice with an important message!!