johnnymk
01-14-2003, 05:52 AM
Maori Seek Gesture for Mountain in Movie
The Associated Press
Indigenous Maori are demanding gifts as recognition of the role one of their ancestors - a mountain - is playing in a Tom Cruise movie being shot in New Zealand.
Maori spokesman Te Miringa Hohaia said some gesture, "not necessarily cash," needed to be made to Maori in recognition of their "special relationship" with Mount Taranaki.
The volcanic-coned mountain is likely to be transformed into Japan's Mount Fuji in "The Last Samurai," which began filming near the mountain Monday.
Some Maori have claimed filming will disturb sites sacred to local tribes. In tribal legend, Mount Taranaki is regarded as an ancestor of Maori who live in the region now.
No Maori group has threatened to disrupt filming if some kind of gesture is not made, but opposition Act Party lawmaker Ken Shirley called their appeals the "sort of extortion ... you expect from a corrupt society in the Third World."
The Associated Press
Indigenous Maori are demanding gifts as recognition of the role one of their ancestors - a mountain - is playing in a Tom Cruise movie being shot in New Zealand.
Maori spokesman Te Miringa Hohaia said some gesture, "not necessarily cash," needed to be made to Maori in recognition of their "special relationship" with Mount Taranaki.
The volcanic-coned mountain is likely to be transformed into Japan's Mount Fuji in "The Last Samurai," which began filming near the mountain Monday.
Some Maori have claimed filming will disturb sites sacred to local tribes. In tribal legend, Mount Taranaki is regarded as an ancestor of Maori who live in the region now.
No Maori group has threatened to disrupt filming if some kind of gesture is not made, but opposition Act Party lawmaker Ken Shirley called their appeals the "sort of extortion ... you expect from a corrupt society in the Third World."