Girl Power that lives up to its name

There is a lot of crap packaged as chick flicks. Forget "Charlie's Angels" and "Legally Blonde 2," "Whale Rider" beats them both. Don't even lump this into the same genre. Despite its girl power themes, "Whale Rider" is so much more than that.\nNow pay attention, this gets complicated. Long ago, a man named Paikea came to what's now the Maori region of New Zealand on the back of a whale to lead his people. Ever since, the firstborn son has been expected to lead, that is until now. When Porourangi's (Cliff Curtis) wife dies birthing twins, and his son passes as well, he is left with only a daughter. Much to his father, Koro's (Rawiri Paratene), disappointment, she is given the name of her descendant Paikea, or Pai for short. Fast forward several years, Porourangi has left for Europe and Pai (played tremendously by newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes) is being raised by her grandparents. Underneath it all, Koro does love Pai, but he has trouble fully embracing her because she cannot be the leader he wants because she is a girl. Since he is currently the chief, he rounds up all of the firstborn sons in the town and runs a school in an attempt to find the next leader. He purposely does not include Pai because she needs to learn her place as a girl.\nPai's struggles to prove herself not only reflect many feminist themes but also many biblical ones, as she tries to save her people. "Whale" questions what would happen if a profit comes, but no one listens because he is a she. The performances of Paratene and Castle-Hughes portray this brilliantly, because while Pai is struggling against a culture, Koro is clinging to these traditional views. Meanwhile, Pai unconditionally loves and tries to save him, all the time knowing that he does not want her. Essentially, Pai is a female Jesus Christ, thus many of the plot points are mapped out from the beginning. There are times when the movie moves slowly, but this is mostly to get the full effect of the characters gazing at each other or the ocean. All of this is forgivable. Even though one can guess approximately what the ending will be; "Whale Rider" still gets there in a breathtaking way.