“We Were Dangerous” Gives Voice to Forgotten Girls
From 1950 to 1999, somewhere between 113,000 and 253,000 children, young people, and adults were abused and/or neglected at faith-based institutions in New Zealand. The true, dire reality of this abuse wasn’t known until 2018, when the New Zealand government began to investigate reports of what happened in these institutions decades prior. We Were Dangerous takes place in New Zealand in 2954 at the fictitious Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls, a stand-in for one of the many real, faith-based schools. It’s a story of the pain that still lingers from these schools, but the genuine joy that existed between the young girls who ended up there.
Te Motu School for Incorrigible and Delinquent Girls is home to 15-20 teenage girls who have been sent there, by their families or by the government, to be reformed. Most of the girls are Māori, and the school is particularly focused on beating that culture out of them. The Matron (Rima Te Wiata) believes that the British brought Christianity to New Zealand to “civilize” the Māori people. Nellie (Erana James) and Daisy (Manaia Hal) are the inseparable pseudo-leaders of the school. Nellie remains rebellious and refuses to let go of her culture. After a failed escape attempt by Nellie and Daisy, it is recommended that the school be relocated to a secluded island. Once on the island, the Matron seeks to “Christianize, civilize, and assimilate” the girls using startling new measures.
Courtesy of The Forge
There’s a version of We Were Dangerous that’s more explicit in its depictions of violence. The film offers glimpses of what the girls endure, but the most violent actions the audience actually sees are slaps from the Matron to the girls or between the girls. Instead, the viewer is given pieces and asked to put the puzzle together on their own. We see The Fertility of the Unfit, a book written by eugenicist William Chapple, and then we see one of the schoolgirls forcibly dragged into the medical cabin, only for a doctor with bloody scrubs to emerge later. The viewer doesn’t need to see what went on within those four walls. There’s nothing that happened in that cabin that would add to the film in a meaningful way. There’s already enough trauma on display here. Seeing these extreme acts of violence would serve no purpose other than to exploit the pain that continues to echo through generations.
On the other end of the spectrum are the genuine moments of joy that erupt amongst the girls. One moment in particular leaves the audience utterly speechless. Prior to their lessons one day, the girls are in the schoolhouse singing in Māori. They’re free and weightless, wholly acting their age, something they don’t often get the chance to do without a reprimand. As they sing and chant, the viewer’s eyes wander to the other parts of the frame. Looming over this outward expression of their culture is a sign that reads “English Only” and a faded picture of Queen Elizabeth II. It’s a moment where everyone can breathe easily, and it adds such lovely depth to the reality of these reform schools.
Courtesy of The Forge
While most of the girls at the school are sent there because they’re Māori, Louisa’s (Nathalie Morris) parents forced her to attend because she was caught making out with her female math tutor. Lou, as she likes to be called, comes from a well-to-do family, and while she has been sent to the same reform school as Nellie and Daisy, they make Lou aware that the rules are different for her. We Were Dangerous hits on themes of classism, colonialism, and bodily autonomy for women. Despite only being 80 minutes, the film handles each of these heavy topics in a way that doesn’t paint a complete picture, but offers enough to help the viewer understand this period of time. The storylines don’t feel half-baked or half-explored, a true feat for a film whose runtime is on the shorter end of things.
It’s only in recent years that the truth about these reform schools is coming to light. Movies like Nickel Boys, Sugarcane, Remaining Native, and other fictional films and documentaries touch on faith-based schools in places like Florida, British Columbia, and Nevada. We Were Dangerous joins these films as a means of ensuring that the stories are not forgotten. “Life’s easier if you don’t resist,” says the Matron, but the friendship at the heart of the film rejects that. Life is easier if you do resist when you have people who share the same beliefs.
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