Tenor: My Name is Pati tells the remarkable story of Samoan opera star Pene Pati, who sang his way from humble origins onto the world’s greatest opera stages. Source: Australian Catholics.
The film opens with a very big man, singlet and shorts, working in a garden. Soon we see him and hear him, still very big, on stage, enthralling his audience with his clear and beautiful tenor voice.
He is Pene Pati, a Samoan who moved to Auckland with his family when he was a boy.
While he will be well known to opera lovers, for the rest of us Pati’s story is something of a revelation.
He was an enthusiastic young boy, with a strong-minded father and mother. The family entertained residents of an aged care home, attended church and sang in the choir, and played rugby. Pati is chosen with along a number of other young rugby players to become part of the chorus for a local production of HMS Pinafore.
Pene was also invited to help with a production of La Boheme, his first awareness of the impact of the emotion and joy of singing opera.
The film traces Pene’s life and the gradual introduction to music, playing the piano, singing, teaming with his younger brother Amitai, who also becomes an international opera tenor. The brothers joined with their cousin Moses, a baritone, to form an entertaining singing and comic trio, Sole Mio, attracting the attention of producers.
Pene has had an extraordinary opera career, singing in Germany and the United States, including at the famous New York Met.
Before him, always, is his Samoan tradition of loyalty to family and always being open to helping others.
Opera lovers, music lovers, will relish the experience of sharing the lives and careers of the Pati brothers – and audiences in general will enjoy this story from Samoa to New Zealand and to the world.
Review by Fr Peter Malone MSC, Jesuit Media
Tenor: My Name is Pati: Starring Pene Pati, Amitai Pati. Directed by Rebecca Tansley. 103 minutes. Rated PG (Mild themes and coarse language).
FULL REVIEW
Tenor: My Name is Pati (Australian Catholics)
