But for local audiences here in Aotearoa, no scene comes close to the emotional climax of the film, when a choir of women’s voices starts to ring through outer space with a very familiar melody and lyrics: “Pō atarau / E moea iho nei”.

The song is ‘Pō Atarau’, a te reo Māori wartime anthem penned by composer Emira Maewa Kaihau in 1915. Inspired by Clement Scott’s 1913 ‘Swiss Cradle Song’, Kaihau’s version was used as a farewell to soldiers fighting in the first world war (Kaihau also wrote the lyrics for ‘Now is the Hour,’ which became intertwined with ‘Pō Atarau’ in 1935). Over the 20th century, the song would come to be associated with a range of farewells, including funerals, leaving parties and memorials, and in 2024 it was included in The Aotearoa Songbook, celebrating the legacy of waiata Māori. //

Among this extensive Viking catalogue is the LP Turakina Sings, recorded with the Turakina Māori Girls Choir in 1976. //

While searching for goodbye songs from different cultures, I came across ‘Pō Atarau’ and I knew the song was special because of how it conveyed the sentiment of saying goodbye, even if you didn’t understand the lyrics,” he tells The Spinoff.

Lehman listened to many different recordings of the song, and found that the version sung by the Turakina Māori Girls’ Choir in 1976 “fit perfectly with the tone and pace of the scene” as well as the “vintage quality” of most of the soundtrack. “When I played it for the directors, they got goosebumps and were instantly sold,” he says. “It became a standout moment we kept referring back to throughout the process as the perfect example of what we wanted to achieve with the soundtrack, highlighting the richness of global music and the shared human experience.”