out of the blue

Oh my goodness. Jeremy and I saw Out of the Blue last night; the film about the Aramoana shootings. Jeremy suggested we see the movie sometime at the Embassy (because who doesn't like seeing movies there?!), and on a whim I rung them up. They had a 9:10pm screening, and it was 8:30pm, so we decided to go, even though it was a school night. They were having a special for October; all tickets $10 to all sessions - it was the 31st of October, so we were pleased. But in retrospect, if the cinema had asked us to pay afterwards what we thought the movie was worth, I would have paid $20 for each of us.

I was totally blown away. The event happened on 13th November 1990. I very vaguely remember watching something on television about it; all I can recall is some aerial pictures from a helicopter over the town, possibly with men in black clothes running around. I'm sure my parents didn't let me know exactly what was going on, I was 6 years old after all. I never learned about the killings at school, but I knew a little about what happened.

The movie was one of the best I have seen in a long time. It's hard to say 'best' or 'good' or 'I enjoyed it', because it was so frightening, and chilling, and tragic, and many other things. Maybe it is like how I think that Clockwork Orange is a good movie, even though the subject matter is gruesome and horrific. Anyway, the director, Robert Sarkies (of Scarfies fame) did a fantastic job. I was also really impressed, funnily, by the composer. There were small bits of music, but it was mainly noise, which just got inside your head and made your ears hurt, but it really emphasised David Gray's mental decline, possibly one of the achievements of the film.

I try to steer clear of movies with guns and killings (unless maybe Shakespeare..), because I can't handle it. A warning - you do see some people get shot. I am pretty jumpy in these sort of movies, and every time a helicopter came onto the screen I leapt out of my seat, and every time the film cut from the dark silence of the land to the raging fire, I started - I think I was scaring the two teenage girls next to me with all my jumping about. I was holding Jeremy's hand pretty hard the whole time (and he was squeezing back, so I wasn't the only one effected!), in fact I think I'll probably never squeeze it that hard again, except possibly when giving birth...

I don't want to give anything away, because I want to encourage everyone to see it. But I just want to say that I was very impressed with the portrayal of David Gray, and how he was depicted so much like a human, rather than some monster - it would have been easy to demonise him. But Sarkies was very sensitive to the fact that he was someone who just had a few screws loose, and flipped out. I got the feeling that he just wanted to be left alone. The scene where he eats his supper and goes to sleep made me weep, and even now my eyes are tearing up at the thought. Gosh, it was astoundingly sad. I'm not excusing what he did, and neither does Sarkies, but it was a real reminder that he was just a man.

The actress who played Helen Dickson, Lois Lawn, apparently had never acted before, but she was fantastic. And it was a real treat to see all that lovely NZ scenery on the huge screen, the hills and coastline around Dunedin are just beautiful. It was funny to see all the 1990-era clothes and hear the music, what a blast from my past! The costume team did a great job.

The whole story is terribly tragic. 13 people died needlessly. The atmosphere of terror comes through so strongly. But Sarkies emphasises the huamnity of Gray; the motif of the waves suggested to me that the director was also aware that despite this terrible situation, the world will continue regardless. Eventually, there would be closure.

Jeremy and I talked about it late into the night, until well after midnight. I don't think that's just because I have studied film at University and I have a real passion for it (which Jeremy shares), but more from a desire to 'debrief' ourselves of what we had just seen. It's that kind of film.

If you are in NZ, or this movie travels around the film festivals, please see it. I feel it is important as part of our history in a New Zealand.