So Why Was He Leaving?

The movie opens with the 50 year old Huw packing up his things in his mother's old shawl in order to leave the valley for the last time. It then flashes back to his childhood, which is the entire rest of the movie. The whole time I was expecting it to come back to where it started and have the adult Huw explain what has finally triggered his leaving after all these years. Needless to say, I was left hanging.

Was it because his mother finally died? Did he get together with his brother's widow, marry her, and he's leaving now that she died?

I see from other threads on here that there was a lot more story in the book than was in the movie, so I'm hoping that this was explained and someone knows the answer. In another thread it said he ended up going to Argentina, so at least that question is answered.


"My name is Paikea Apirana, and I come from a long line of chiefs stretching all the way back to the Whale Rider."