SEPTEMBER 14 2019 LISTENER 69
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14Mahana (Māori TV, 8.30pm).
A handsome adaptation of
Witi Ihimaera’s 1998 novel
Bulibasha. The Once Were War-
riors triumvirate of producer
Robyn Scholes, actor Temuera
Morrison and director Lee
Tamahori are reunited for a
story that, says Scholes, is “all
about the human ability to
live with things that have gone
wrong”. It is set in an almost
mythical 1960s East Coast,
where there is an unexplained
feud between two families, the
Poatas and the Mahanas, the
latter led by intimidating patri-
arch Tamihana (Morrison).
Enter wilful grandson Simeon
(Akuhata Keefe) and the
stage is set for change. (2016)The Founder (Three, 8.55pm).
Director John Lee Hancock,
who is known for biopics The
Blind Side and Saving Mr Banks,
is a safe pair of hands for this
very American story of the
creation of fast-food franchise
McDonald’s. It’s not all Happy
Meals and McFlurrys: charac-
ters like Ray Kroc are woven
through American cinema,
except that Kroc, played with
depth by Michael Keaton, was
the real hardscrabble salesmanwho took a small burger joint
in San Bernardino run by
Richard and Maurice McDon-
ald (Nick Offerman and John
Carroll Lynch) to the world
and then took the business
right from under the brothers’
noses. (2016)The Birth of a Nation (Three,
11.15 p m). Nate Parker directs
and takes the lead role in his
depiction of the legend of Nat
Turner, a slave preacher who
led a rebellion in Virginia in- He reclaims the title
from the unbearably racist
DW Griffith film of 1915,
although Parker is not a subtle
film-maker (he was reportedly
influenced by Mel Gibson’s
Braveheart), resorting to visual
clichés in his celebration of
an African-American who
stood against unthinkable
oppression. Gabrielle Union
and Armie Hammer also star.
(2016)Blade Runner (TVNZ 2, 12.00am
Sunday). Only the greatest
science fiction movie of all
time. A love story, a techno-
noir, a warning about the
environment, a reminder not
to play God. A great per-
formance by Rutger Hauer,
who delivers one of the mostA Guide to the Week’s Viewing
TV Films
Mahana, Saturday.by FIONA RAE