FILM AND DVD: WATER WHISPERERS TANGAROA – [FEATURE DOCUMENTARY]
DIRECTOR: KATHLEEN GALLAGHER
WICK CANDLE FILMS: http://www.wickcandle.co.nz

WATER WHISPERERS TANGAROA:

TANGAROA PUKANOHI NUI: Tangaroa, God of the Sea, has large eyes. He can observe all we are doing.
Maori Whakatauki [proverb].

It takes a very special kind of magic to create an inspiring film documentary that shows the empowerment of people working together to heal the elements rather than just protesting against the destruction of the planet. Director Kathleen Gallagher has already shown she has this magic with her film Earth Whisperers Papatuanuku, as I indicated in an earlier review of this film :www.apwn.net With Water Whisperers Tangaroa, the power of her vision and the ways she choses to enact this are still as potent.

The best way to immerse the viewers in the issues and to inspire them to want to take part in making this a better world is to seduce them with the utter power and beauty of nature, make them long to restore the environment to its pristine state. Kathleen Gallagher and her team do this by immersing us in the sensual beauty of nature by appealing to all our senses at once.

Watching this film, as I have now done in the cinema and on dvd several times, you cannot help but be seduced by the captivating soundtrack which combines, as with Earth Whisperers Papatuanuku, hauntingly exquisite Maori and Celtic music, blended with the sounds of nature - the swooshing of the river as the camera takes us into the water and we feel at one with the elements. Nga mihi nui, thanks to Aroha Yates Smith, Taihuka Smith, Bob Bickerton and Richard Nunns for the exquisite music which takes us deeply into the soul of this film. Whether we are sailing the river in a rubber dinghy with a sail, paddling a canoe or dinghy or swimming or diving in the water, we feel totally immersed and at one with the elements. We realise that we are one with the water and if we harm or destroy it, we harm or destroy ourselves. It really is as simple as this.

But instead of harassing us with the urgency of the need to preserve and heal our damaged waterways and oceans, Kathleen Gallagher lets the people speak for themselves. She reveals the ways forward by showing people working together to find creative solutions to the problems and the results are stunning and uplifting.

This is the key to the power of her films. People are exhausted from all the issues we constantly need to face. They are not likely to be drawn to a film that harangues the viewer. Yet if you draw the viewer into the breathtaking beauty of all our waterways, from rivers and lakes to the oceans and even better, take them beneath the surface of the seas, then you have already gone a long way to winning over your audience into wanting to protect and conserve nature for ourselves and future generations.

I find both Earth Whisperers Papatuanuku and Water Whisperers Tangaroa alluring and uplifting in their ability to take us into the very heart of the issues by seducing us into wanting to protect the sacredness of the land and seas and in sharing practical, down to earth ways we can be inspired to take part in this conservation.

Tangaroa increases the vision by linking the indigenous communities of Maori tangata whenua and First Nation Canadians and their shared desire to return the waterways to their natural states for their very survival – the kai they eat. Chief Caleen talks about how the special salmon from their river disappeared when the river became polluted and one of the few places in the world this salmon still lives is Aotearoa. Hence their journey to collect salmon spore to take back to their river.

Ngai Tahu kuia Raewyn Solomon begins the film by telling us that we cannot keep destroying or abusing the rivers, lakes and ocean because if we do, nature will take them back from us. Throughout the Pacific, tangata whenua korero about the water being like blood in our body. The Pacific navigators saw it this way and still do. So Chief Caleen addresses this issue and confirms that if you harm the water then you are harming the people.

Eva Rickard always said that if you want to look after the water then you must first look to the land and heal it. We know in Aotearoa, as a farming nation, that the massive use of chemicals and fertilisers in the past few decades has had a dire impact on our rivers, lakes and oceans. While the government still trades off its “100% pure” image for tourism, its own people suffer for a lack of government direction by insisting that our rivers, lakes and oceans are cleansed and remain so for future generations. What the film clearly shows is that if we do not act now, future generations will find it difficult clean up what we have released.

Eva Rickard was always a pioneer with vision. She reclaimed land stolen from her people in Whaingaroa and the community of Raglan has pulled together to make sure the entire harbour is fenced off and the waterways replanted so that the rivers and ocean could be restored. This was said to have impact in decades to come, but the results after a few years have already been amazing. From being able to catch 2 fish in 18 hours, they can now walk down to the Raglan wharf and catch mullet, shnapper and even kingfish from the inner harbour. The restoration has been hard work, as Fred Lichwark says, but it has been a miracle – one that all communities could learn from and apply.

Mussel farmers at Golden Bay were despairing at the pollution of their fishing grounds which seriously impaired their livelihoods. They knew the land needed to be healed in order to restore their ocean. However, at first the local farmers were skeptical and hedgy. They did not realise the impact their chemicals, fertilisers and animal effluent were having on the rivers and ocean. However, once the groups got together with a facilitator and actually heard the experiences of the others, they all joined forces to clean the rivers and ocean. Once the rivers were fenced off and planted up and parts of the farms left to regenerate in native bush, even the farmers were stunned at the clean water and the better rate of production on their own farms. A win win for all.

And that describes the art of effective documentary making – which shows the benefits for all of us to engage in constructive and creative ways which help restore our earth and waters to its pristine state. Katherine Goldsmith, who writes for the UK Ecologist and has restored and conserved land, native forest and waterways at Mangawhai, talks eloquently about how the water is sacred and how we have polluted our waterways globally by allowing industrial waste to flow into them. Those governments who rely on corporate contributions often turn a blind eye to the pollution caused by these corporations. Then everyone thinks it is ok to drain off any waste into our waterways.

Yet this film allows us to fall in love with every aspect of our rivers, lakes and oceans. It takes us on a breathtakingly beautiful dive under the Poor Knights Islands where we see the results of the ground breaking marine parks first established by Bill Ballantine and supported by people like divers and environmentalists like Wade Doak. The underwater photography is exceptional and uplifting. If we have not been convinced by arguments in the film up to this part, we cannot help but be awed by the sacred beauty of the underwater world. I say this as a diver who knows it well. But for those who cannot go underwater, the film opens us to the wonders of nature beneath the sea and the reasons why we must preserve this for future generations. Perry Watts stands beside Leigh Harbour talking about the kai moana that used to be available here. The nearby marine reserve has increased the flow of fish and helped those fishers who rely on this for a living. Rather than restricting them, it has enhanced life for all. Another win-win.

Yet, as Cath Wallace so powerfully states, while about 30% of our land is protected, less than 1% of our oceans and coastlines have been protected. Despite Bill Ballantine’s vision for at least 10% of our coastline to be marine reserve by now, and ample documentation of the success of this vision, less than 1% is still protected. A young woman diver inspired her class mates to help create a marine reserve near Whangarei. If she could do this on minimal resources, then all of us can make a difference.

The preview screening of Water Whisperers Tangaroa at the Matakana Cinema was a very special event. The audience, from all age groups, was so immersed in the film during the screening that it was like being in a church or any sacred place. We were taken into the heart of Tangaroa and embarked on a stunning journey from which most would emerged changed. Watching the rubber dinghy sailing down the river on a journey of exploration, images of the Rainbow Warrior crew using rubber duckies to protect the islands at Moruroa and Faungata’ufa Atolls returned, even an evocation of the Rainbow Warrior herself, sails aloft. Nobody who had shared that time could have missed such an image. The cinematographer Mike Single was praised for the utter beauty of his images and local photographer and diver, Steve Hathaway, was especially honoured for the awe-inspiring underwater scenes which stay with the viewer long after the screening.

Bill Ballantine spoke, nearly in tears, at the sadness of less than 1% of the coastline now being in marine reserve after the initial excitement of the success of this initiative. The audience rallied to support his work and ask what they could do to help. Roger Grace, already working hard to clean up the local Whangateau Estuary, and sharing this with others by taking diving groups and a glass bottom boat to show others what marvels lie beneath the sea and why they should restore it, talked about this and offered this movement as a place where other people could learn about how they could work with their own local water environments. In many places where the film has been screened throughout Aotearoa, workshops have been held so that farmers could learn more about how to plant up the riparian waterways and the benefits for their own farms as well as the rivers, lakes and oceans affected by their farms.

So this film is not just an utterly beautiful and uplifting experience. It is part of a movement to empower and link people so that we may all take part in the process of restoring our earth and oceans to their pristine state. Mike O’Donnell, whose fantastic Water Workshop I attended many years ago at Koanga Gardens, is now inspiring school children to learn about, sing about, help restore their own waterways. Anyone and everyone can take part in this process and Water Whisperers Tangaroa shows us how and why we must.

Kathleen Gallagher stated in an interview on TV, “Water Whisperers is about people who listen to water”, about groups of committed people who have dedicated their lives to restoring their waterways and how we can also be a part of this. If you missed the film in the theatre, you can order the dvd: http://www.wickcandle.co.nz.

This is an experience not to be missed. Kathleen Gallagher manages to present in Papatuanuku and Tangaroa love stories that have the potential to be honoured as such or turned into nightmares. The power of action from love for the earth and ocean is much more than hatred for those who pollute it. Much better that we work together to find creative solutions and learn about our own communities in the process.

We have a whakatauki warning us of the destructive nature of humankind, about the decendants of Kiki who caused trees to wither: Nga uri o Kiki whakamaroke rakau. This refers to tohunga makatu and Kiki, who was a renowned tohunga or sorcerer of the Waikato district, Aotearoa. Let us use our powers to restore nature, rather than let the trees wither. Let us use our powers to restore the rivers, lakes and oceans, rather than letting them wither.

Tangaroa pukanohi nui.
For Tangaroa has large eyes and can observe all we do.
Let us truly appreciate and honour the natural resources that have been gifted to us as a taonga, a sacred treasure.

Water Whisperers Tangaroa is a call for us to observe, act and work together to honour our rivers, lakes and oceans. Like the shaft of light beaming down through the water as the diver rises up to greet it in the film, it is a beacon of hope at a time of need for us to listen and learn. We will all heal and become one through this restorative action together.

[c] Dr. Cathie Koa Dunsford, 2010

Cathie Koa Dunsford [Te Rarawa/Ngapuhi/Hawai’ian/Croatian] is author of 23 books in print and translation in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Turkey, including the popular Cowrie novel series featuring strong tangata whenua and eco activists from the Pacific region promoting Kaitiakitanga for our shared global survival. She has taught Literature, Creative Writing and Publishing at Auckland University since 1975. Dr. Dunsford is director of Dunsford Publishing Consultants, which has brought 197 new and award winning Pacific authors into print internationally. Cath is recipient of two major literary grants from Creative New Zealand Arts Council and was International Woman of the Year in Publishing in 1997. She is on the Board of the Asia Pacific Writer’s Network and recently taught workshops at Artspeak Pasifika, 2010, funded by CNZ, NZ Arts Council. Cath Koa has performed her work at the Frankfurt, Leipzig and Istanbul Bookfairs. Two conferences based around her Cowrie eco novels have been held at the University of Manitoba and Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. She was recently keynote speaker on Kaitiakitanga at the international Oceanic Conference on Creativity and Climate Change at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji. A documentary of her work has been directed for Maori Television by Makerita Urale. She tours the world performing from the books with traditional Maori waiata and taonga puoro.
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