A documentary feature film that lifts the veil of secrecy on what became known as “The Wainuiomata exorcism”, to reveal the extra-ordinary true story of how both love and fear could drive a New Zealand family to unwittingly kill one of their own.
Intertwining key interviews and dramatic narrative the film lures the viewer into the twisted reality of the last few days of Janet Moses’ life.
Believing that 22-year-old had fallen under the spell of a Makutu, or Maori curse, her whanau (family) surround her in a circle of love, and subject the young mother to four days and nights of water cleansing in an effort to rid her of evil. So great was their belief in Makutu, that it became their truth.
Belief is a highly confronting take on a modern love tragedy. It sheds light on the dark nightmare Janet and her family shared within the close confines of her grandfather’s bedsit in Wainuiomata in the spring of 2007.
VIEW TRAILER AT THE BOTTOM OF PAGE
"The escalation of dread and conviction that enveloped them progresses incrementally and so convincingly in Stubbs’ telling that rational disbelief at what occurred is no longer an option. Dramatic without ever relishing drama for its own sake, this is a persuasive and moving picture of humanity in extremis.”
New Zealand International Film Festival
"A triumph of storytelling over sensationalism. You’ll be shocked, moved and disturbed. And I mean that in a good way. Go.”
Dominion Post
"Nothing short of extraordinary and engrossing”
Mark Woods, Melbourne International Film Festival 37ºSouth
"Stubbs tells the story in so perfectly calibrated a manner that it rebukes all the simplistic pieties and finds the beating heart of a human tragedy."
Peter Calder, NZ Herald
“The calibre of the ensemble performances is extraordinary. It might be the best ensemble in a New Zealand film I can remember."
Dan Slevin, Radio New Zealand