The Roxy at Miramar

Finally I have made it to the fabled cinema in Miramar, the  Roxy, owned and revitalised by Sir Peter Jackson, and this Lord of the Rings is everywhere, including his greatest hero Gandalf, pictured below in photo in the guise of Sir Ian McKellen.

Nice coffee and savoury scone at the Roxy Deco Cafe

Great service by lovely hostesses

On right is Sir Ian, with a lady friend.

It is a sunny day and the weather in April has been the best I have experienced in Wellington so far  -perfect. I decide to have a manipulation, to prepare my back for some long plane travel next week, so decide to see my Chinese man Joe Gin who worked on my back last time and did a good job. I ring, he's available at 1pm so great, my day is set. This time it is only a fifteen minute job on the adjustable bed but he pulls and pushes, and my back feels a lot better. He is a bit chattier this time, perhaps it's the good weather, so we talk about dreams and out of body life. As a Chinese who has obviously flirted with Buddhism he is interested when I sing him my sound, the HU. He likes it and says it gives him good vibrations. That done I quit his little room, this time it is a lot cleaner I notice than before, and as I am halfway there already at Kilbirnie, I decide to go to see the Roxy at Miramar, see above.

Fashion trends at the Roxy, he is the ultimate in skinny pants, she not so fashionable in floral skirt and riding boots.

Later today I am off to the Film Archives for a Kiwi documentary called 'Patu', about the famous Kiwi demonstrations against the Springboks' tour in 1981 and then to see a new blockbuster premiere at the Cuba Lighthouse. The latter is the 'Grand Budapest Hotel' with a star-filled cast, I just couldn't resist seeing a non French movie in the middle of this mad Francophilia in Wellington. There is sometimes a little too much love for all things French without the required criticism. Just being 'French' is not enough.

Just out of Patu and Wow! What a great film for everyone to see, not just Kiwis, although it is a must for them. History has shown that this enormous 'civil war' which lasted for the eight weeks' Springbok tour, had quite an effect in destabilising the De Klerk apartheid Government in South Africa, and Nelson Mandela himself acknowledged its positive effects on him while he was interned. It may have also hastened the departure of 'Piggy' Muldoon, the incumbent Nationalist PM at that time in New Zealand who was pro the Springboks tour if only for financial reasons, although it did cost the NZ Government millions of dollars.

 

'Patu', meaning 'beaten' or 'hit', was made by a Maori woman director of great stature,  Merata Mita, who I just discovered was born on my birthday three years before I was born, and who unfortunately died suddenly at only age 68 in 2010. What a loss to Indigenous film making in NZ as this movie was ground breaking in so many ways. I will now start my research into what she has done apart from this historical and political documentary. I am so glad I have seen it in my early days in Kiwiland. 

Brava Merata, I am still shivering from seeing your movie!