Out of the Blue

1h 43m • Drama, Crime • 2006

Directed by:Robert Sarkies
Written by: Robert Sarkies and Graeme Tetley

Robert Sarkies’s docudrama revisits New Zealand’s most horrific gun massacre. Set in the sleep seaside town of Aramoana, the film opens with scenes of the close-knit town’s tranquillity and camaraderie.

This introduction makes it all the more shocking when David Gray fires the first shot at his neighbour, Garry.

The local police are wholly unprepared to deal with the bloodshed that follows. They rush to the scene, but do not have the expertise or the equipment to deal with a crime of this magnitude. The townspeople panic, yet several take heroic action to help the wounded and dying, even when it puts their own lives at stake.

Sarkies gives Gray little dialogue which makes his lone-gunman an evermore menacing presence heightened by the distorted sound and out-of-focus shots that create the impression of a disturbed mind.