The Last Resort screening

The Last Resort screening in Dunedin, Christchurch, Motueka and Martinborough

The independently made local documentry The Last Resort is currently screening in Dunedin, Christchurch, Motueka and Martinborough

The Last Resort - Review: Directed by Errol Wright & Abi King-Jones (four stars) * * * * Reviewed by Margaret Agnew, The Press

'Defiantly defending our beaches'

The classic kiwi holiday - camping by the beach - is under threat. It's not so much Paradise lost, as Paradise sold.

Not many documentary films make the transfer from film-festival circuit to a run at the theatres.

When they do, usually they're the doco version of a blockbuster - either starring Al Gore or directed by Michael Moore.

So, when a little New Zealand documentary scores a run in theatres all over the country, it's something special.

The Last Resort is a close look at the effects of a beachside camping ground being sold to a housing developer in the tiny settlement of Mahia, in northern Hawks Bay.

The former camp owner Grahame Nash predicts grimly, that "over time, more and more people will fall for the big dollar like I did". The classic Kiwi camping ground of Blue Bay will soon be a 44-house luxury estate, full of houses the locals can't afford. As well as hearing from experts such as historian Harry Evison and lawyer Moana Jackson, there are some eloquent and heartfelt interviews with residents and long-time campers, upset and dismayed at what is happening.

One unhappy camper compares it to "the way the land was taken from the maori" and quotes Desmond Tutu. Another mutters "it rips your jandal, man". These eloquent Kiwis are genuinely upset, whether they've been camping at Blue Bay for four generations or only recently discovered the spot. And then there's the expat Aussie who came to Mahia in 1972 "to escape coastal suburbia" only to discover it has arrived at his back door.

Stephen Dawe, chief executive of the Overseas Investment Commission (OIC), talks of foreign investors in glowing terms as having a "fresh set of eye's" that turn a "backwater" into something more "dynamic". Contrast that with comments of a former employee of the OIC who seems embittered by his time there, granting consents for such fresh sets of eyes as that of convicted murderer Tommy Suharto, son of the former dictator of Indonesia, who bought Lilybank lodge in the Mackenzie Country.

Poignantly, the late Rod Donald appears several times and the film is dedicated to his memory. The soundtrack which is patchy in places, nevertheless makes good (often ironic) use of tunes such as Fred Dagg's We Don't Know How Lucky We Are and What A Wonderful World.

The Last Resort is reminiscent of filmmaker Stefen Lewis's The Waimate Conspiracy, in which a 139-year-old land claim is settled. That was fiction - there's no happy ending to be found here.

Moving and disturbing in equal measures, the issues covered in The Last Resort should be of concern to all New Zealanders.

Trailer, reviews and more info available at: www.cutcutcut.com

Screening Times:

Dunedin - Screening now, Daily at 6pm - Academy Cinema - Limited Season. www.theacademycinema.co.nz

Christchurch - Screening now, Hollywood Cinema, Sumner - Limited Season. (03) 326 6102

Motueka - Screening now, The Gecko Theatre - Limited Season. www.geckotheatre.co.nz

Martinborough - Screening now, Circus Cinema - Limited Season. www.circus.net.nz

Raglan - 23-24 February, Soundsplash Summer Festival. www.motherland.co.nz/soundsplash

Napier - Starts Thurs 8th March, Century Cinema - Limited Screenings. www.centurycinema.co.nz

Takaka - 23 March - 8th April, The Golden Bay International Film Festival.

Hokianga - 1st - 4th June, The Great Hokianga Film Festival - Queens Birthday Weekend.

www.cutcutcut.com

ENDS

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