There are a lot of reasons why Uproar works so well, but its star, Julian Dennison, is a major one. This is a warm and likeable underdog drama slash coming of ager, and Dennison is a warm and likeable lead. Another is that every time writer/directors Paul Middleditch and Hamish Bennett sail close to mawkishness, they are rescued by a strong New Zealand sense that, no matter what happens, it is absolutely essential that they stay this side of the ick.
It’s 1981 and in New Zealand the country is about to welcome the South African rugby team, the Springboks, for a tour that is highly contested. Apartheid means that wherever they go the South Africans’ matches are subject to protests and disruption. The country is divided on the issue – sport and politics should never mix on one side, the visiting team represents a reprehensible regime on the other – but in NZ there’s an added layer, since the toxic white/black politics of SA have a ready read-across to the white/Maori politics of NZ.
This, the politics, is the film’s sour to quite a lot of sweet. Dennison, who you might know from Hunt for the Wilderpeople or Deadpool 2, plays Josh. A teenager who’s smart and funny but also a bit lardy and not particularly sporty, Josh is dealing with the recent death of his dad and his brother’s depression. On top of that he’s bullied because he’s a mixed-race Maori in a fiercely white school. With no male friends to speak of, he hangs around with Grace (Jada Fa’atui), a feisty Samoan who discovers her inner activist when the South Africans turn up, at the same time as Josh realises he has no inner activist. Josh has a few things on his plate.
Paul Middleditch based this story on his own schooldays having a hard time as an outsider with arty/dramatic leanings (he’s won squintillions of awards for directing commercials since then so it has worked out OK for him). Josh gets a similar break in the form of Brother Madigan (Rhys Darby), the teacher who spots something in Josh and encourages him to apply to drama school, the spark that sets Josh off on voyages of discovery in all the other areas of his life.
There are emotional arcs aplenty. And there is adversity, as there must be, in the shape of a fiercely protective mother (Minnie Driver), school bullies, a school principal (Mark Mitchinson) who dresses up racism with aphoristic Maori sayings. Plus support, from Jamie, (James Rolleston), the older brother who’s something of a local hero on account of his rugby prowess. And, if Josh will only reach out to it, the Maori community, personified by political activist Samantha (Erana James, underused but a star) and her aunt Tui (Mabelle Dennison, real-life mother of Julian).
Uproar is chirpy and moves at a speed, suggesting its makers know they’re on familiar territory. They appear to be aiming for amusing rather than outright funny, and there’s a careful balance between the familiar (Josh’s emotional arc) and darker material, like racism, vandalism, violence, which sometimes relates to the visiting Springboks and at other times is closer to home.
It also pauses here and there to shine an unexpected light on the tendency of political activists to get wrapped up in their own earnestness. Middleditch and Bennett really want to avoid the charge of sentimentality, and since the direction of travel is the familiar “be true to yourself” road, they work hard at it and mostly succeed.
Julian Dennison rides over it all seemingly effortlessly. His character, Josh, is meant to be almost unnaturally talented when it comes to acting, possessing sound instincts and a fully working bullshit detector. Dennison seems to have those too.
Uproar – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2024
