Mahana is a 2016 New Zealand drama film directed by Lee Tamahori, and written by John Collee, based on the novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies by Witi Ihimaera.

The enmity purportedly dates back to Tamihana Mahana falling in love with Ramona and rescuing her from her betrothed, Rupeni Poata, who she did not want to marry.

At the shearing station, Simeon learns that the Mahana shearers have sufficient meat supplies and that his grandfather sent him on a pointless errand.

[2] While the source novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies is set in New Zealand's Gisborne District, filming for Mahana took place in the countryside outside Auckland, the country's largest city.

Despite its simplistic and romantic storyline, Barnes described Mahana as a story that could apply to every family "whose male leader forgets that his role is to offer support, love and security—not hard-hearted rule.

He criticized John Collee's script-writing, commenting that the "on-the-nose dialogue, ripe melodrama and preprogrammed emotional responses will test all but the most forgiving viewers".

Tuckett also likened Mahana to Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once Were Warriors and praised Ginni Loane's incorporation of landscapes and interior shots into the cinematography.

[7] Newshub reviewer Kate Rodger awarded the film three out of five stars; praising the performance of the main cast including Temuera Morrison, Nancy Brunning, and Akuhata Keefe.

Rodger also praised Loane's cinematography for immersing the viewer "entirely in the back blocks of New Zealand's rich farming heritage and lending a very tangible and convincing authenticity to the story.

"[8] The New Zealand Herald's reviewer described Mahana as a "Māori story with universal appeal" and credited the screenwriter John Collee for adapting Witi Ihimaera's novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies into a "tight family saga of promises broken and secrets kept.

"[9] The Sydney Morning Herald reviewer Paul Byrnes praised Mahana as a landmark film in Māori cinematography, describing it "as an engrossing narrative on a grand scale about quotidian lives."