How Far Is Heaven : Movie Review

How Far Is Heaven : Movie Review

Cast: The people of Jerusalem
Director: Christopher Pryor and Miriam Smith

Originally premiering in the New Zealand International Film Festival, How Far is Heaven now finally gets a wider release.

This doco spends time in the community of Jerusalem, just outside Whanganui, where the majesty of the river flows through the heart of the community. It's here the Sisters of Compassion have lived for the past 120 years - and today, only three nuns remain.

This film follows the life of Sister Margaret Mary over a year - she's a regular volunteer at the school; by spending time with her and the community, the cameras capture not only the majesty of the surrounding landscape but the diminishing role played by the Sisters in the community which is becoming more staunchly Maori.

But as well as charting the divides between Christianity and Maori beliefs within the community, it also concentrates on the kids of the area, whose various views veer from fear of the local taniwha to general impishness and refusal to be anything other than cheeky when day to day life comes calling.

How Far Is Heaven is a picturesque, vitally important document of community here in Aotearoa these days; it captures an innocence of children and a vital paradigm and paradox of tradition and its contrasts. All of it among some truly wonderfully done cinematography. With a blissfully judge free approach to all sides of the community, the filmmakers have crafted together something which is both respectful and moving, a portrait of a life many of us will never see and experience but whose very existence is central to our own.

Rating: