Talk us through itAn amateur geologist, Ted Reece, is investigating the unusual composition of a series of rocks on a hillside when he fall from a rock while trying to chip off a sample. He wakes to find an old farmer hovering above. The farmer has a tale that he is going to tell come hell or high water and Ted is going to be his audience. Enforced listening is backed up by a loaded rifle. Seems back in the 1940s the land the rocks are on was owned by Frank Burton, his wife Tui, and son Hone. Hone's grandmother simply called Nanny was also along for the Burton family ride. When Andrew chips a hunk of the infamous rock off for Hone to play with Nanny warns all hell is about to break loose. Can Tui and Nanny get Andrew to believe in the power the land holds or will the curse inherent in the rocks cause them grief? Ready to go rock hunting?
Review"You know nothing. You understanding nothing." - Frank BurtonToday's lesson: The Maori believe that inanimate objects can possess a life force and can influence events. If the object is left alone it can happily co-exist with people, however if the object is disturbed in any way we may learn the secrets that the object hides, and those secrets can be much more powerful than we can imagine. Director Cliff Curtis scores with a stylised, informative, and entertaining opening to The Rocks that sets up the rest of the episode to perfection. A panoramic shot of severed heads and bones on top of a rock overlooking the ocean is sort of picture postcard in a macabre kind of a way. I'm thinking of seeing if I can't get Christmas cards made-up from a still there. Nothing says Christmas like severed heads on top of a rock. Slight detour there, we quickly learn that the local tribe has a habit of placing the heads of their fallen enemies on top of the rocks in an offering to the gods and a sort of lose of mana to their enemies. Hence we find the rocks themselves are evil due to the use of the formation as an altar. Curtis, having given us a pretty graphic example of the ancient practice, swings his camera up the side of the rock and then focuses on a half eaten apple incongruously sitting right where formerly no longer talking heads resided. We have moved to the present without fanfare and Director Curtis has his episode leased and brought to heel. Excellent start to The Rocks and the Director keeps his tight focus and emphasis on story telling right to the front of the cinematic queue. Taking time out of his narrative Curtis introduces the old farmer who may or may not own the land and Ted Reece who is down from the city to do some geology on the weekend. Writers Debra Reweti and regular Michael Bennett indicated that Ted Reece and 1940s farmer Frank Burton share at least one trait in common, they don't respect the land and know nothing of it's secrets. The old farmer then decides to tell Ted a story of what happened back in the 1940s when Frank Burton seemingly had it all. Whether or not by implication Frank Burton and Ted Reece share a pakeha disregard for the land and it's secrets is never spelt out but the inference is that history is repeating. Curtis doesn't bother with prolonged firework displays informing the audience we are in a flashback to the 1940s he simply has Honi playing at shooting at Germans from the top of one rocks of doom. And if you are wondering whether or not the rocks form a backdrop for the episode then you would be correct. Every shoot, excluding those within the farmhouse, has the rocks either in the foreground or backgrounds. Curtis here follows the lead of Salem's Lot by having an object overlook, and hence have influence on those living below it. In both cases there is a sort of harbinger of evil going down via this tactic. Interestingly the writers have Frank working the land, here he appears to be putting in a fence line, while the Maori women are working in the farmhouse. There's a sort of reversal of outlooks going down their as Frank is Pakeha or it could be viewed as the writers indicating Frank is in the process of taming the land while Nanny and Tui are quite happy to live under it's sway. Either way, and it could quite as well be a simple plot device, it gives Frank a chance to chip off some of the rock for Honi to play with, and thus creating the central conflict. 
Notably after Frank desecrates what I guess would be a tabu site, Nanny is visited by what looks to be a magpie crashing into a window. Clearly this isn't a good sign as signs go judging by Nanny's reaction to the avian interloper. Later Tui berates Honi for having a piece of the toxic rock and tells him that his father knows nothing about the land. Tui decides to return the piece of rock to it's place of origin, thus stopping any curses that might be hanging around the place, but in a plot development I didn't see coming Honi has another piece of rock in his pocket. Without giving away spoilers, or at least keeping a lid on them, an accident will occur due to a horse rearing at the rocks. In one of the few scenes where we go back to the future Ted Reece decides the horse rearing could be due to sulphur fumes in the vicinity or geothermal activity, horses being attuned to that. Naturally Ted can't conceive of the rocks themselves having a life-force and being inherently evil. Back in the 1940s things are going from bad to worse for Frank Burton as the newly awakened rocks exert their influence on his family. Like the future Ted Reece he doesn't heed the warnings till it's too late. Director Curtis decided to go all Carrie or maybe even Rose Red on us with a shower of stones hitting the Burton family home as I guess a final warning. Since there's no sign of rocks on the ground around the house as the shower continues you would really think Frank would have to give some credence to a supernatural explanation. What's interesting about this scene is that it is the only overtly supernatural event in the tragedy of Frank Burton and his family, and thus must be seen as coming from strictly left field. While the rain of stones might advance the plot and highlight a theme it's an isolated incident that disrupts the carefully constructed chain of events. Still who's not up for a rain of rocks and the like! Other than the stone thing Director Curtis has his timeframes looking good, nails both the plot and themes, and turns in a solid enough effort without overly taxing himself. Guess one of those films where the filling is in the plot. Andrew Binns (Frank) does a fine enough job with his farmer type role, but doesn't look like he is overly taxing himself. Binns appears to know this is television and isn't seeing the requirement for an Oscar level performance. Tungia Baker (Nanny) is rock, no pun intended, solid except for her facial reaction to the magpie, that was simply amateur dramatics time. Mauri-Oho Stokes (Hone) doesn't let down the home side and delivers an entirely convincing performance. And Nicola Kawana (Tui) and Colin Moy (Ted Reece) do what they can with limited roles. Once again Hirini Melbourne is behind the traditional Maori instruments, but this time with Kipa Royal joining in, and the instruments are used far more extensively in the soundtrack than they have previously. Kipa Royal and Frank Marinthe deliver the rest of the soundtrack, which has a sort of techno feel with a hammer beat going down. Perfect match for Curtis's visuals.
Summary ExecutionThe Rocks is a solid tragedy that holds itself together through the three timelines it transverses, if we can call the opening sequence a timeline. Director Curtis mainly focuses on his plot and theme but throws in some touches to keep things interesting. I was entertained throughout, though the major plot twist can be seen coming over the hills and is starting to get overused. Still a traditional horror take on a Maori belief keeps you happy with life.Yes I have finally split the episode guide into the first two sessions of Mataku under sustained pressure. Still not entirely sure they really count as separate sessions considering both showed up on television screens in the same year. The good news is that there was a third session, the bad news is that it doesn't appear to be available for purchase. Sent an email to channel 3 a couple of weeks ago but as yet haven't heard anything, awesome public service there. If you have been following Mataku up to now then you will want to catch The Rocks, which continues the high standard of the franchise. You will be cursing yourself if you don't climb on The Rocks to be honest.
ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ... A solid ghost story with some pathos to keep things interesting.
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