Owen, who is portraying Te Whaea o Te Motu (mother of the Nation) in a new movie called simply Whina, says the role is her most challenging yet.

The way Owen tells it, it was as if in acting Cooper, the kuia lived again through her.

She says she often heard Cooper talk to her and she was able to channel her in her performance. But at a cost - she found it hard to divest herself of the role after work.

Like Cooper, Owen was baptised Catholic. In fact, that was one of the reasons Cooper's family approved of her playing the role.

As Cooper openly practised her faith, Rena emulated her: she went back to Church to help prepare for the role.

"I went to confession and the priest asked me when was the last time I had done confession!"

She also gave up alcohol while filming as a way to honour Cooper's beliefs.

"I gave up alcohol for Lent, then lockdown happened and my Lent went from 40 days to seven months. I could have drunk but I knew I wanted to have a clear channel.

"I prayed a lot during those seven months because it was so important to me to get it right.

"She had this sense of humour. It's almost like she said, ‘I am not going to be number two on your list. I'm going all the way to the top and I'm gonna be your number one.'"

"We wanted to show her [Cooper] as a fully three-dimensional human being," says one of the film's co-directors, James Napier Robertson.

"Dame Whina is this towering figure, so it's easy to forget the day-to-day struggles that she might have dealt with and the challenges she had to overcome to do the things that she did."

"She had flaws, and we weren't afraid to address them," the film's other co-director Paula Whetu Jones says.

"But we wanted to address them in a way that would allow the audience to feel compassion for the choices that she had to make."

Owen says she struggled when she learnt things about Cooper she didn't necessarily like.

She says Napier Robertson helped, saying: "Just remember Rena, you are portraying a very flawed person".

"He's right, we're all flawed. And I think when we as a society give each other permission to be flawed, then we'll have better lives.

"I call myself a recovering perfectionist because there's the pressure to be perfect and to succeed and that can rob a lot of us of joy.

"What's important to me is Whina's message about kotahi tatou (we are one).

"Whina wasn't about tearing people down or dividing them. She was always about coming together. It was for the love of the country. We are always stronger together than divided."

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Good direction by Paula Whetu Jones (Waru, 2017) and James Napier Robertson (The Dark Horse, 2014) bring these to the forefront in Whina, propelling the story along, taking viewers for a fascinating and emotional ride.

The statue in Punguru on the Hokianga, based on the Maori Land March photograph of Dame Whina walking hand-in-hand with her mokopuna Irenee Cooper, goes some way towards capturing what Dame Whina stood for. This film does the rest. It's powerful, memorable, and important viewing for anyone, anywhere.

Mainly in Maori with subtitles, the title role is played by three actors, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne as teenage Whina, Rena Owen as whaea Whina and, outstandingly, Miriama McDowell as in-between Whina. Their depictions of wahine build on those in Waru and are a big step forward since Cousins (Ainsley Gardiner, 2021).

Writer James Lucas (Academy Award, 2013) joined the writing/directing team of James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones, contributing to a very fine script. The cinematography by Leon Narbey (Whale Rider) is remarkable.

Dame Whina achieved her goals without violence, by surrounding herself with people she could trust, including her mentor husband William Cooper (Vinnie Bennett) and her nephew, Maori Batallion soldier Gabriel (James Rolleston). She had no hesitation in confronting those who tried to undermine or discount her, including misguided (fictitious) Catholic priest Father Mulder (Erroll Shand).

Her mission was to awaken the conscience of Aotearoa, to ensure that no more land would be taken from Maori. As well as having politics at its heart, the film provides a deeply personal insight into a courageous woman's life.

The early deaths of both her husbands, both probably preventable today, are moving at one level. At another, there are Dame Whina's tireless, heroic and often lonely efforts to wake people up. Continue reading

Father Christopher Denham of the Catholic St Patrick and St Joseph's Cathedral blessed the machine - named Dame Whina Cooper - and the teams who will operate her in acknowledgment to St Barbara, the patron saint of miners and others working underground.

The other significant wahine acknowledged this morning was Maori rights champion, Kahurangi Dame Whina Cooper. Read more