TV Review: Sunday Theater – In A Flash

In A Flash tells the Mangatepopo Gorge 2008 canyoning disaster [19659006] If you knew anyone who had the misfortune to be involved in the tragedy of Mangetepopo Gorge in 2008, where six students and their teacher during an outdoor trip were taken in a flood and lost their lives, you should never look In A Flash .

I did not know any of the victims, and yet the opening episode of the new season of Sunday Theater was an incredibly painful sight. In a sense, I guess that means it was a very good television.

Sunday Theater has become an oasis amidst the feces of regular programming, a recognition that we can actually make a good TV at consistently high standards. He has also evolved into a play that dramatizes key moments in New Zealand's contemporary history in recent years, giving us stories about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, the exhibitors' careers and the recent highlight, Resolve story of Chris Crean's heroic courage by testifying against Black Power's gangsters

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* The realization of In a Flash
* TV Review: Instinct

But soon, how to approach these stories? This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Mangatepopo tragedy. In the opening credits, it is unusual to note that the names of certain characters have been changed "by deference" for the bereaved.

Screentime producer Philly de Lacey, who had to cope with the Crean documentary's family critique, said she was consulting with families and showing them the script. TVNZ, sensitive to criticism, canceled a project of filming on the shooting of the key scenes.

Of course, all journalists, whatever their medium, keep coming back to these infamous incidents. The difference here, perhaps, is that a reconstruction of the television makes it in a painful and real way.

The goal of any journalist confronted with a story like this is to be scrupulously precise and as sensitive as possible. In A Flash seems to meet these two marks, making a clear effort to stick to the documented facts of what happened the day the instructor Jodie Sullivan took a group from the Elim Christian College of Auckland difficult to offer a glimpse of all who have died, and being careful not to take the easy route of blaming an individual or decision.

The opening minutes are confusing – there are a lot of weird cuts, a part where one of the students uses a camcorder and we see it from his point of view, moments that go to the Incident, a countdown, an ethereal voice off.

There are simply too many things going on, although you can see that the intention is to prevent this from being an entirely linear narrative. But once he agrees that it's actually what it is, In a Flash installs in its rhythm and it starts to you grab. Yes, the story still moves away from the action, mainly in a noble desire to tell us about the seven victims and their lives and what was taken away from them, but the action is fascinating.

Fifty minutes later, we arrive at the moment. The recreation of what has happened is remarkably realistic and must have required a lot of skill and precision. The game, especially Emma Fenton as Sullivan, is of consistent quality. But the next ten minutes are close to a dark disaster.

De Lacey described the drama as "not an easy watch for me and it certainly will not be an easy watch for anyone involved." It's a good television, but if it was my child, I would not have wanted it done and I would not have watched it.

                
                     – Your Weekend