At the heart of this film is the universal theme of assimilation and what is lost in the effort of conforming to Western society. Set apart by their lifestyle, we explore one family’s relationship to land as life-blood; their understanding that time is not money, their survival skills in the face of adversity and in the wild, and their absolute connection to each other and their horses. Are they in retreat from our world of comfort and consumerism? Or are their lives a contemplation of their iho or essential nature where the ocean, rivers and mountains speak more loudly than the consumer world. At the centre of their lives are the horses. As Peter breeds, nurtures and gentles them into spirited, trusted animals we understand the horses are a metaphor: For mastery of life, for finding a place to stand and learning how to fall.

Shot in HDV, This Way of Life is an exploration of a world our collective consciousness has mythologized. In our paved-over consumer society we have modulated, appropriated and hidden the truly natural as if it does not exist. It is this world and how to live in it the Karena family and their horses reveal.