Pike River, 2026.
Directed by Peter Sarkies.
Starring Melanie Lynskey, Robyn Malcolm, Erroll Shand, Madeleine McCarthy, Lucy Lawless, Jordan Mooney, Ben Porter, Peter Tait, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Hamish McEwen, John Leigh, Richard Crouchley, Tim Gordon, Ian Mune, Jeff Kingsford-Brown.
SYNOPSIS:
In the aftermath of an explosion that rocked the Pike River Mine and took 29 lives, two women step up to fight for accountability.
Early on in director Peter Sarkies’ Pike River, 31 men travel into the titular New Zealand mines, with a wide shot ominously lingering outdoors long after everyone has entered. That’s about as cinematically doomed as it gets, as it’s not long before we learn of an explosion going off inside, with major complications for a rescue mission. Based on real events circa 2010, this also feels ripe for one of those familiar, ripped-from-the-headlines adaptations, a story of resiliency and survival. Except that all of these men but two died.
This means that Sarkies and screenwriter Fiona Samuel are forced to take a different, somewhat refreshing telling of this type of story, in that it is entirely centered on the grieving families, public outrage, and pushback against the head of the mining company and politicians not doing nearly as much as they could to recover the dead bodies. It’s also essential to point out that, when discussing this, these characters don’t refer to them as dead, but rather as “bringing their men and boys home”. Alive or deceased isn’t the point; it’s the principle of the matter that these beloved family members falling victim to oversights and unsafe working practices deserve to be brought home for a proper burial.
While this is also very much a story about community, the filmmakers wisely pin the brunt of the focus on Anna Osborne (Melanie Lynskey, solid as always and in a rare leading role, which is reason enough to check this out) and Sonya Rockhouse (Robyn Malcolm), women who have both lost a loved one to this disaster. The key distinction is that one of Sonya’s children was one of the two survivors, causing bitterness from Anna even during town meetings where, theoretically, they should all be on the same side, working towards a common goal. There is more to this divide between them, which makes it all the more moving when these two finally start talking to one another, bonding, and grieving together.
Pike River is also doing a hell of a lot more between both of their families. Several years pass while fighting for justice and the bodies to be retrieved, that Anna’s daughter eventually becomes pregnant, signaling that many are starting to move on. Since this film captures such a long, drawn-out process, it also means it is packing in so much adjacent drama that simply doesn’t have the depth the filmmakers seem to think it does. The performers are most definitely not going through the motions, but certain aspects still feel a bit bland. As a story, the film works much better when it sticks to community outrage, including teaming up with union leader Helen Kelly (Lucy Lawless).
Ultimately, it is that narrative approach that Pike River lives and dies on; it’s something different for sure, but it also results in a movie that has long stretches where it’s going nowhere and comes across as a feature-length story that could have been summarized as a piece of epilogue text following the deaths in the mines. One also realizes that no one would want to watch that movie, as typically those films are about inspiration and, most importantly, survival.
At times, it is impactful watching these women fight for change and eventually make a difference. It’s also a bit of a slog with too much familial drama for its own good. Admittedly, it is still probably the most respectful and meaningful approach to telling this story. What’s disappointing, then, is doing quick research and finding that most of what was accomplished seems to be in the process of being rolled back or never actually came to fruition, which raises skepticism and other questions about this otherwise decent film’s existence.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
