Filmmakers often find themselves living in a world that they are attempting to cover in a documentary format -- people and places coming alive during that process of discovery -- and long forgotten issues revisited. This phenomena was indeed the case for director Alex Roman during his production of Reflections of the Past.
The story of the Parker Hume case -- the murder, and adolescent love affair that the girls eventually had -- are featured in this investigative film that was primarily shot in New Zealand only months before the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. Those shots were all exceedingly crisp HD footage, and now stand as more of the history of New Zealand, a monument to a time now lost forever.
Controversy continues even today as why these girls were involved in such a brutal murder. The film takes us way back to the beginning where life was innocent and these girls suffered both physical and family issues that brought them to the point of being inseparable. This lead to the speculation in those days, which carries on today, on whether they were lesbians. In that regard, the idea at the time, could lesbians be the cause of such a crime? Obviously that conclusion is invalid, but Roman explores the story from the people who were there at the time or that are living now in New Zealand that had some special insights on the way things were. He brings the story back in 21st Century terms.
Yes, there was a Peter Jackson film about the same event, but this is a factual documentary that bares closer attention by anyone who has been intrigued with this case over the years. Roman sought out a suitable collection of both gay and straight on their opinion, and delved into historical data, former friends and teachers, and many others. If you want to get a better understanding of how two girls raised in completely different environments could have collided in a brutal murder, then were banned by royalty to ever see each other again for the rest of their lives, then you need to get a copy of Reflections of the Past. You may find it as fascinating as we did.
The story of the Parker Hume case -- the murder, and adolescent love affair that the girls eventually had -- are featured in this investigative film that was primarily shot in New Zealand only months before the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. Those shots were all exceedingly crisp HD footage, and now stand as more of the history of New Zealand, a monument to a time now lost forever.
Controversy continues even today as why these girls were involved in such a brutal murder. The film takes us way back to the beginning where life was innocent and these girls suffered both physical and family issues that brought them to the point of being inseparable. This lead to the speculation in those days, which carries on today, on whether they were lesbians. In that regard, the idea at the time, could lesbians be the cause of such a crime? Obviously that conclusion is invalid, but Roman explores the story from the people who were there at the time or that are living now in New Zealand that had some special insights on the way things were. He brings the story back in 21st Century terms.
Yes, there was a Peter Jackson film about the same event, but this is a factual documentary that bares closer attention by anyone who has been intrigued with this case over the years. Roman sought out a suitable collection of both gay and straight on their opinion, and delved into historical data, former friends and teachers, and many others. If you want to get a better understanding of how two girls raised in completely different environments could have collided in a brutal murder, then were banned by royalty to ever see each other again for the rest of their lives, then you need to get a copy of Reflections of the Past. You may find it as fascinating as we did.
