In Dark Places: The Real Cost of Teina Pora's Story

It's hot in this quiet and unassuming cul-de-sac in the back streets of Otara.

inflated with a barbecue. A couple of plastic tables are installed and white plastic chairs are scattered around the lawn.

Looks like the neighborhood is hosting a party; Bottles of beer are scattered on the tables, someone scratching the guitar, teens greet each other with cuddles and smiles excited.

On the other side of the street, a car stops. The radiator makes a strange noise. Two men come out and one wearing a blue baseball hat opens the way to the other side of the road, across the lawn, through the feast that has tarnished.

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They approach an older couple sitting on the doorstep. After saying something to the woman, the cap comes off and the man leans to kiss him on the cheek. He says something else, then turns away, comes back through the party, his eyes still fixed on him, on the other side of the road, on the other side of the road, and returns in the quivering car

In Dark Places The movie directed for television tells the story of Teina Pora, the young man who was imprisoned for two decades for a crime. not committed, and Tim McKinnel, the ex-cop who fought to prove his innocence.

Much has been written, and said, about the case of Pora, who saw him twice guilty of the rape and murder of Susan Burdett in 1992. his home in South Auckland, and has left in jail for 22 years before the Privy Council cancels his beliefs in 2015.

This particular scene comes in the middle of history – Pora returns home, after his first time in jail, to see his family , some of whom testified against him during his trial.

Soon, there is a hold-up like the production The team travels around the neighborhood to find a teenager who plays a minor role in the party scene

A young high school student ends up living in two doors from the studio – she was supposed to worry about her school prize this afternoon, Instead she will join the cast of one of the most powerful true stories to shake up New Zealand in recent years. Tim Berninnel

The former police officer, who now works as an investigator, knows that it is a story that is complicated and sad. He and a legal team have worked tirelessly to help release Pora from jail. It is therefore not surprising that it appears in the movie, played by actor Craig Hall.

McKinnel knows the headlines and stories, but seeing his life played by others is something new.

"Obviously the cinematography and the storylines are awesome, but … it's really hard when you're in the middle of having a firm grip on what it's going to be for me." rather weird … quite surreal and not particularly comfortable, but it was fascinating. "

In a way, that is McKinnel who ended up looking at someone who was 39, another play an intense game.

While working on the case of Pora, he knew that something had to happen to get something about the failure of the New Zealand justice system twice

. "He was not necessarily a nice character," says McKinnel. "I had studied other cases of miscarriage of justice, which had been heard in New Zealand, and I soon realized that it would be useful for his story to be told about his life." One way or another. "

Someone was Michael Bennett, who was quickly on board .. Since that fateful meeting, Bennett has produced a documentary about the case, and has written a book. he is behind the camera in this hot December morning, as director and author of In Dark Places .

Bennet's co-author and producer of the film, Jane Holland, is also his She says that the decision to tell Pora's story otherwise – this time as a fictionalized film – made sense to them. [19659004] "There is a different perspective when you learn what happened to someone by the eyes" says:

"His story was really well known, there was a lot of reports about it … and there were people who said "but now he has the (compensation), everything is fine. "But there is so much more money is not going at all."

"It was almost like the opportunity to take it in a story that you can hold off by saying," No, it's a real person.It's one of ours and it's our justice system. "

But turn the 22-year legal battle into a brief 90-minute It was not easy.

Holland says that there are periods of time "Maybe a little disturbed" and some events have been reconfigured, in order to get all the time. But she and Bennett say that they wanted to honor the truth – stories of Pora and McKinnel, and the truth of the police and the courts "

And of course, they had two people to talk to, who knew the truth of history – McKinnel and Pora.

McKinnel was a regular visitor on the set – two of his sons appear in the movie, playing his kids, he says Holland and his co-producer Chloe Smith was questioning him on hard facts in the case, and also checking out his personal scenario, which included his family and his own battle against cancer that was occurring while he was working to free Pora.

Meanwhile, Pora had people to keep him To this day, he was on the plateau of the first production karakia and passed from time to time, but overall, he kept his distance. When the film was screened for the cast and the team, it was there before and after, but he chose not to watch the film.

"He wants people to know the story," says Holland, "We say our version of but that's not it."

It's the same as Pora said to Richard Te Are.

The young actor – it's his first role at the theater school of You Whakaari – just spent a little time with Pora face

The pair spent a few hours together shortly after the beginning of the shoot, exchanging stories and recognizing how great the project was for both of them.

"And then we played some guitar and we let the music speak for us," says Te Are.

The separation – which was different from McKinnel and Hall, who began their relationship with dinner, and remain close – was a conscious choice of the young actor

. I am not Teina and I can never know the experiences that he has lived, "Te Are explains. "To do my job, my strategy was to adopt a very" artisanal "point of view, but also what I could personally bring: to mix who I am with my job, and hope that it was enough for the public . "

Pora however left a little advice to the young actor

"I've had a mix of different pressures playing this role, will I play it well enough, will I do a good job?" There was always my grandmother's voice saying, "You can only do your best." And that's also what Teina told me when we met for the first time.

Before turning the actors involved say that they did not know much about the story behind the movie Hall said that he just knew pieces – including the infamous photos of a Pora wearing bandanas that were splashed across the newspapers at the time.

Te Are, who was just 26 years old, thought that he was reading fiction

"When I read the file (from the movie), I did not realize it was a true story until I arrived at the end (but) there were a lot of things I was connecting to – I'm from Hastings and I was raised, not in gang life, but it was in my community, I knew a little bit about this world "

And he was filming the prison scenes – inside the old Mt Eden jail – that really stuck with Te Are.

His voice changes when he talks about the experience. It slows down, the light fades a little. He clearly left more impact than he perhaps thought.

"I did not have much to do in terms of play. These days consisted only of feeling the loss, the loss of freedom and what for the prisoners.

" I was there for two days, and it was heaps. I do not know if I could have done another one in there. These days will stay with me forever, because I can not imagine what life was like inside. Since it is stripped of everything around it

"Most places had this feeling, but being inside this place caused an onslaught of time. authenticity of feelings, very intense. "

The Te fought not to get lost in the filming process. But it's only later, when he moved from his base in Wellington to his new home in Auckland that he managed to shake it up. "19659004" Just see a lot of the coast, stay out and spend time in the ocean. That was enough to stifle the seashore. The last two months have been to come back on my own. "

McKinnel can tell himself, it is suggested in the film, and he says that there were probably times when he needed to take a small step back from the legal battle

" But I I did not necessarily understand that. a lot, but there were moments, in the middle of all this, where we felt a tremendous weight, and we did not progress and we were frustrated and retarded and it was a psychologically difficult moment, "he admits. "I hope not too much damage has been done, but I was sometimes a husband and a father quite absent."

He says it's okay now that his children can be part of this side of the story by playing and joining When he first read the screenplay, Te Are not sure about it. did not realize that Pora's story was true. "title =" "src =" https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/q/r/3/a/t/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1qummb.png/ 1531878027461.jpg "class =" photoborder "/>
    

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