52 Films by Women Vol 9. 11. We Were Dangerous (Director: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu)
Pictured : Exiled by the state, a group of school age girls incarcerated on a former leper colony in the 1950s as featured in director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu 's film, ' We Were Dangerous ', written by Maddie Dai . Right: Matron ( Rima Te Wiata ). Still courtesy of Madman Entertainment (New Zealand) Cinema is filled with female authority figures of a certain age who are casually cruel but act with righteous purpose and a degree of enjoyment. Whether they are Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest , Miss Trunchbull in Matilda , Sister Bridget in The Magdalene Sisters or Mrs Danvers in Rebecca , these women live for their job, enforcing structure and discipline whilst suppressing empathy. Added to the list is the Matron (Rima Te Wiata), the dominant head of a reform school for girls featured in director Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s debut feature, the ironically titled, We Were Dangerous , set in 1954 on a tiny island that is part of Aotearoa (that’s New Zealand ...