We Were Dangerous

Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu's 2024 New Zealand film is set in 1954. Nellie, Daisy and Lou are sent to a reformatory for girls on a remote island; the institution's aim is to correct them and its methods go steadily further. The subject is correction itself. The institution is not content to instruct the girls morally; as an extension of the policies of the period it tries to decide about their bodies as well. The narrative shows this through procedure rather than stating it. The friendship among the three is the film's support and the matron's attempt to divide them the real tension. The tone is humorous in places, and that choice does not lighten the subject but makes the girls' resistance visible. It is the director's first feature. Who it's for: those who like New Zealand cinema and dramas about institutional violence. Who it's not for: viewers sensitive to forced medical intervention; the film places it at the centre.