Broken

Going from childhood to teenagehood, Broken follows Matariki, a Maori boy who struggles to understand love, his identity, and his sexuality in a thick-skinned New Zealand community that is constantly pre-defining people. Matariki is shy and introverted. He’s a lanky soft-spoken kid who isn’t violent or sporty, and that is why he struggles to fit in. In order to be considered a ‘real man’ in his community you have to be aggressive, ‘macho’, and hard-skinned. He’s always searching for love and affection, but it’s not always easy for him to trust people. This is further complicated by his strong feelings for his best friend, and the powerful influence of toxic masculinity which causes his friend to drift away from him as soon as he realizes that his manhood could be put to question.