Mauri is the first full-length fictional feature to be made by a Maori woman, and the first, says co-producer Geoff Murphy, to put "the full Maori perspective on film." It is the story of a man, Rewi, who reclaims his spirituality. Haunted by a past which threatens to engulf his future, Rewi's potential redemption comes from his relationship to two women: Kara, whom he loves as "earth mother," and Ramari, whom he loves sexually. Bill Gosden wrote for the Wellington Film Festival premiere of Mauri, "Disconcertingly, Mauri's central theme of birthright is most thoroughly expressed through Rewi, a character whose claim on it is insecure. The true nature of his spiritual transgression is the mystery that is held in suspense and gives the film its peculiar edginess. Rewi, as played by (Anzac) Wallace, is a force-field of jumpy, bottled-up energy...Female power in the film is not so impeded. Eva Rickard, as Kara, represents the ideals of Maori woman's courage, wisdom and harmony with the natural world to perfection: her performance is richly informed by her own personal mana...as she imparts a sense of their mauri, or 'life-force,' to the troubled younger characters...Women in this film embody nothing less than destiny...There are passages in Mauri that are more passionate in their feeling than anything else in New Zealand cinema."