Ruby and Rata

Comedy drama about the relationship between two New Zealand women who seemingly have absolutely nothing in common, apart from their fierce independence. Rata, is a single Maori mother in her twenties frauding the welfare system in order to get by. Ruby, is an elderly Pakeha, an intolerant, middle-class pensioner, who owns her own home in the Auckland suburbs. The two are thrown together when Ruby’s nephew rents her basement flat to Rata. When Ruby discovers that Rata is not the nice young single professional woman she imagined, but has a wild young son named Willie who sings in a rowdy band, she tries unsuccessfully to evict her. Yet their mutual hostility gradually wanes, largely due to the intervention of Willie, who strikes up an odd relationship with Ruby. Eventually the two women find common ground and pool their resources to survive. The film critiques the economic rationalism that took hold in New Zealand in the eighties, while celebrating the perseverance of ordinary people caught in an economic and social underclass. Cast includes Yvonne Lawley, Vanessa Rare, Simon Barnett and Lee Mete-Kingi.