Lomu

Directed by Vea Mafile'o and Gavin Fitzgerald, this documentary frames Jonah Lomu's life as something larger than a sporting story — a portrait of a first-generation Tongan South Aucklander navigating between cultural heritage and the relentless pressures of becoming rugby's first true international superstar.

The film draws on never-before-seen personal photos and videos, interviews with his mother Hepi and brother John, and archival conversations with Lomu himself to trace his origins in the Kingdom of Tonga, his schoolboy days at Wesley College, a disappointing All Blacks debut, and the dominant 1995 Rugby World Cup performances that announced him to the world. Former coach Laurie Mains, teammates, and manager Phil Kingsley Jones all contribute.

Where the film earns its weight is in the quieter material — examining how rugby's shift to professionalism set Lomu on a collision course with his own values, and how the giant the world saw was, to those closest to him, a shy and private man. Older children with an interest in rugby or New Zealand history will find it particularly resonant.