Room for more sporting telemovies
One of the great challenges of a docudrama is to take the volumes of research and condense them into a two- or three-hour telemovie. Another is to decide on your theme.
Jonah (TV3, Sunday to Monday) faced that problem and couldn’t make the tough decisions. Instead, the two-parter presented almost everything about Jonah Lomu’s incredible life in small, disjointed vignettes. It was once-under-lightly.
We moved from 1995, the scene of his Rugby World Cup triumph, to 1999, when he again emerged following a debilitating illness. Then there were random years in between and beyond.
During that time Lomu grew up in a tough neighbourhood, fell out with his parents, walked away from relationships, bought cars with noisy boomboxes and faced ongoing health problems.
It was episodic. We longed for Lomu to reveal himself, but he covered up his emotions in an
All Black jersey. Little penetrated his carved eyebrows.
The one constant was his relationship with ‘‘Doc’’ Mayhew and those scenes portrayed the gravity of his kidney problems.
For all its shortcomings, Jonah was a compelling watch.
Lomu became rugby’s first global superstar. He was generous with his time. There was a nanosecond moment when he visited an 8-year-old boy in hospital. But he was gone before the cameras could focus. Yet that visit could’ve been the snapshot for all his acts of kindness.
Lomu’s many partners contributed to his life and I was disappointed at the superficial way they were treated. I’m sure they shuddered when they viewed the docu-drama.
Lomu was such a fascinating character that any documentary or telemovie made about him had strong appeal. Although mediocre, this was still a courageous attempt to present a story that’s worth telling.
There are many other sportsmen and sportswomen whose stories should now be told. Jack Lovelock and Yvette Williams are one. Beethoven Algar is another. Here was a Ranfurly Shield try scorer, a World War I soldier who rode camels, protected Lawrence of Arabia, fought in the Middle East, was badly wounded by a Turkish grenade yet overcame his injuries to return and captain the All Blacks. Great subjects, great stories.
Special mention should be made of Mosese Vea’ila, who played the demanding role of Lomu admirably. Craig Hall also gave authority to Dr Mayhew.
Except for Lomu’s mum, there was little gravitas or grandeur from the others.
Some titles give a clue about the story. Others don’t. Deep Water (TVNZ Ondemand) suggests the three leading women are about to get in over their heads. At the moment they’re in the shallows.
Roz Toovey is struggling with debt and accepts a tryst on the tri pillow with Scott Elias at £5000 a pop. Although it’s a onceonly for her to pay the rent he’s happy to mortgage the house.
Kate Riverty has it all, but is estranged from Guy and faces a runaway daughter. Lisa Kallisto is a frantic wife and mother who runs a dog kennel business. It’s bona-fido during the day but, at night, she plays mile high in Kate’s bathroom and leaves her knickers there by mistake.
Deep Water is Big Little Lies in Blighty. It’s getting murky as they wade into the undertow. But it’s so well written, acted and directed they’ll take us with it. Just have a life jacket.
They might be ambulances, but they’re mobile emergency wards. Add a touch of surgery. I’m thoroughly enjoying Paramedics (TVNZ 1, Tuesdays), set in Melbourne, where they respond to 800,000 patients a year. In 30 years they’ll have treated the equivalent of our entire population of sheep.
Two human dramas stood out for me. The ambulance crew of Mark and Carina attended to Kelly, a young woman who’d had an asthma attack. When mouth to mouth and a drip to open her airwaves didn’t work, they put a tube into her lungs and breathed for her. It worked.
Robin, 75, had a fall, felt a severe pain and thought he’d had a heart attack. In fact he’d broken two ribs. Home can be as lethal as the street, the air we breathe and the television we watch.
For all its shortcomings, Jonah was a compelling watch.