``We left `The Piano' in the dust and we slayed the dinosaurs,'' says Rena Owen, the film's star. Now in its 10th month, ``Warriors'' has outdistanced ``Jurassic Park'' as the New Zealand box-office champ. It's also been a smash on the film-festival circuit, winning 18 international awards, including a best-actress citation for Owen at the Montreal Film Festival. It opens Friday in the Bay Area.

Barbed-Wire Jungle

For film-goers who associate New Zealand cinema with such European-flavored art films as ``The Piano,'' the raw-boned, muscular ``Once Were Warriors'' should come as a surprise. Set in the shantylike fringes of contemporary Auckland, where underclass Maori families survive in a graffiti-and-barbed-wire jungle, it's a tale of domestic violence, alcoholism and one woman's devotion to her children.

Beth Heke (Owen) is the world-weary mother of five, and Jake (Temuera CQ Morrison), her sexually dynamic husband, is a working-class brute who smacks the missus around when he loads up on beer. One son's joined an urban gang and is covering his face with tattoos; another's been sent to a juvenile detention center.

During a breakfast interview at this mountain ski resort during the recent Sundance Film Festival, Owen, 34, talked about Beth, and described the impact that ``Warriors'' has made throughout New Zealand society.

Prickly, impassioned and tough, Owen carries herself with a straightforward, don't-mess-with-me bearing. At one point, when she didn't like the direction the interview was taking, she simply snorted and said, ``F-- boring question.''

Later, when asked why Beth remains with Jake when she's obviously intelligent and strong, Owen set the record straight: ``She's not strong! You see, you're deceived, you're fooled. If she was strong she wouldn't be there. She's only tough: It's bravado, it's exterior.''

When the reporter refers to ``Warriors'' as a cautionary tale about domestic abuse, Owen is equally contrary. ``That's so limiting, so narrow. It's a love story, about a family, about a woman's journey to save her children.''

Still, Owen says ``Warriors'' has created a huge awareness of the spouse-battering problem in New Zealand.

`Part of Psyche'

`It's become a part of the nation's psyche. I mean, two weeks to a month after it was released, the help lines were inundated with callers. Women's refuges, anger management groups, men-against-violence groups were all overflowing. The film gave people license to talk about a taboo subject in their lives.''

Wherever it plays, Owen finds, ``Warriors'' touches a deep nerve. ``I've had men crying on my shoulders after the movie, and I've had women crying on my shoulders. It's changed people's lives. You couldn't ask for more. I mean, I really do feel spoiled as an actress.''

In Costner Epic

Before ``Warriors,'' Owen had just one film under her belt, ``Rapa Nui,'' the disastrous Easter Island epic that Kevin Costner produced and Kevin Reynolds (``Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'') directed. All her lines were all cut, and the film bombed, but Owen refuses to knock it. ``It was a good warm-up for me.''

The In the middle child of nine children, Owen was reared by a British mother and a father, now deceased, who was three-quarters Maori.

Originally a nurse, she moved to London in the early '80s, took a detour through that city's nocturnal party scene, and spent eight months in prison on drug charges -- an experience that she credits with giving her ``inner strength'' and an extra edge as an actress.

On her release, Owen auditioned for a play about women in prison, got the part and built a stage and TV career playing a variety of roles. It was only when she returned to New Zealand in 1989, she says, that her mixed-race background became a handicap.

``If I went up for a Maori role,'' Owen recalls, ``they'd say, `You're far too European-looking,' because I'm very pale. If I went for a European role, they'd say, `Oh, but you're part Maori, aren't you?'''

Carries the Film

Then came ``Warriors.'' Critics have credited Owen with carrying the film -- and the actress, for one, isn't about to disagree.

``I feel very lucky that Lee chose me, which isn't to diminish the fact that I worked my a-- off. I know I made that film in a way. And I don't say that egotistically. I've worked a good, hard 12 years on my craft, made a lot of sacrifices in the theater. ... This is my payoff.''

It's also a tough act to follow. ``After I'd done Beth,'' Owen says, ``I felt like I'd done the ultimate. I wondered, `Well, what's next?' '' And I feel very lucky that my next role is equally as juicy and challenging.`

In May, Owen flies to Sydney, Australia, for ``You're My Venus,'' a futuristic gender-twister by New Zealand director Stewart Main (``Desperate Remedies''). She'll play Coco, a male-to-female transsexual and nightclub performer. ``It's a fantastic script. It's gonna be fun: lots of fabulous costumes, wigs and makeup. It'll be really nice to have a glamour role. In `Warriors,' the only makeup I wore was when Beth gets beat up.''