Vincent Ward's “Rain of the Children” is a mature and professional documentary which recounts of the life of Puhi, the woman who was the subject of Ward's early film, “In Spring One Plants Alone”. As a young film maker, Ward acknowledges that he saw Puhi for what she superficially appeared to be; an ordinary old lady caring for her adult son. However, 30 years later, Ward has matured as a film maker and revisits this fascinating subject after her death. He finds that she was far from the simple “old lady” that he had earlier read her to be. As Ward himself says in the film, Puhi experienced some of the most dramatic events in New Zealand's history, and walked between the living and the dead for most of her adult life.
“Rain of the Children” is not only a fascinating account of these important events which occured throughout Puhi's life; it relates these events as they were experienced by an individual, and shows the profound changes that they wrought in her life. Moreover, the film reveals Puhi to be a subject whose life, though able to be retold through a series of events, remains her own. It is aesthetically rich and is a credit to Ward as a film maker.