Metacritic Film

Masai: The Rain Warriors

Starring Ngotiek Ole Mako, Paul Nteri Ole Sekenan, Parkasio Ole Muntet, Musurpei Ole Toroge, Swakei Kipilosh, Kiaki Ole Narikae, Peniki Ole Soyiantet, and John Parkuyere Nkinai

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

ArtMattan Productions
Drama  |  Foreign
94 minutes | Color
France
Released In Theaters October 20, 2006

Faced with a drought that endangers the continuity of their people, Masai elders are convinced that they have been cursed by the Red God -- the God of Vengeance. Following the death of the war chief, a group of adolescents must now cross over to adulthood, forced to quickly form a new generation of inexperienced but brave warriors. The adolescents must bring back the mane of a legendary lion, which appears at every critical period of the Masai history to appease the wrath of the God and bring back the rains. The survival of their culture depends on this quest. (ArtMattan Productions)

WRITTEN BY
Olivier Dazat
Pascal Plisson

DIRECTED BY
Pascal Plisson

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

61 / 100

Critic Reviews

75 Chicago Tribune
The French filmmakers lend it their special aesthetic/dramatic sense, and the Masai actors ground the story in everyday realism and humanity. Together, they create a film and a legend to remember.
70 Los Angeles Times Michael Ordoña
The film has its flaws -- the length of the arduous journey certainly could be conveyed with greater economy, the action is not dynamically depicted and the lack of character development makes it occasionally difficult to follow -- but the earnest minimalism of "Masai" makes it an unusual moviegoing experience.
70 Chicago Reader
Dazat coscripted, felicitously blending elements of documentary and travelogue much as he did in Himalaya. The resulting portrait sidesteps ethnography yet conveys the essence of a magnificent people.
60 The New York Times
Not as morose as it sounds, the film also features playful humor and steady promises of hope. And the boys, like the film, come off as very human: flawed, frequently awkward, but full of goodness at the core.
50 Variety
Overall, film may feel too slow and didactic for contempo urban kids conditioned by video games. However, the script is never smarmy or complacent, and shows young people engaged in collective problem-solving and decision-making that is often, quite literally, a matter of life and death.
50 LA Weekly Greg Burk
As our warriors encounter the Kenyan equivalents of Cyclopes and Sirens, the languid pace and the lulling voice-over (French subtitled in English) make for a nice bedtime story rather than a window on primal struggles.

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