Kurt Bayer: Killer disaster handled with care

A scene from TV3's new Christchurch-based drama show Hope & Wire.

We asked Christchurch-based APNZ reporter Kurt Bayer, who reported on the quakes and their aftermath, to view Hope and Wire. Here's his take.

When news came that a drama was being made about the Canterbury earthquakes, many folk in Christchurch shuddered, "too soon".

The creators of the miniseries Hope and Wire, which premieres tonight on TV3, assured them it would be handled sensitively; that it was needed to "illuminate [the] common experiences of those whose lives were shattered by one of New Zealand's greatest-ever natural disasters".

It even comes with a health warning from the Canterbury District Health Board. TV3's website, which has already received complaints, says: "If any of the Hope and Wire content has affected you, Stronger Christchurch is available to talk to you on 0800 777 846."

The first 90-minute episode certainly pulls no punches.

Characters making up the everyday lives of Cantabrians - the unfaithful lawyer husband, drunken students, feral skinheads, ageing socialist immigrant, money-hungry landlord - go about their daily lives before the "new normal" hits at 4.35am on September 4, 2010.

The shaking is well shot. It portrays the confusion, noise, dust, crashing, sirens, fear and tears. The primal urge to flee.

And then comes the aftermath. The mopping up of destructive liquefaction - the sandy mud that has bubbled up from underground. The Student Volunteer Army, communities rallying together, the Portaloos, neighbours fleeing to Western Australia, others feeling they have dodged a disaster, that all is well.

Then the next stage: form-filling, slippery EQC assessors, insurance battles, makeshift living arrangements in garages, cars, and tents. The feeling that no one else cares.

All the while, the aftershocks keep coming.

Every scene prompts a sick feeling in the gut - a reminder of all those sleepless nights when you didn't know if the next one was the big one. Or a minor one. Or simply the coal train rumbling in from the West Coast.

Then, when things are feeling more "normal", the real big one. 12.51pm, February 22, 2011. The killer.

Hope and Wire is a strange mix of drama and documentary, fused with actual newsreel footage, and well-recreated disaster sites.

But it seems to work. The warts-and-all approach, without sensationalism, brings it all back. The chaos. The desperation to hear your loved one's voice. No cellphone coverage.

The triage centres, deadly fallen facades littering city streets, the looting, caring for the kids, parents taking turns to alternately be brave and break down. All the while, hundreds, seemingly thousands, of aftershocks roll through, with people not knowing if the real big one is still to come.

Hope and Wire - named after the messages that cropped up in the aftermath and were posted on to security fences around the red zone - is well handled. The characters are well portrayed and well acted. It's raw, but done with sensitivity.

It might prove too painful for many Cantabrians to watch, but it should provide Kiwis outside Christchurch with a better understanding of just exactly what happened during the tumultuous recent period of our history.

What: Hope and Wire, TV series
Where and when: Begins tonight on TV3 at 8.30pm

- TimeOut