It's 2005. Helen Clark is prime minister, Pete Hodgson her Minister of Land Information, and a few Maori at Mahia are pissed off; Pissed off because developers are clearing trees and beaches in preparation for a handful of new homes. And a documentary crew follow these - and other - events against a backdrop of opposition to foreign ownership of Kiwi land.
The Last Resort shows up all sorts of people. Federated Farmers look especially hungry, so does Atareta Poanga's Maori Party, and the local councils look inept.
Back in 2005, Simon Power didn't look like Clayton Cosgrove and the New Zealand First Party had a strange young fella called Craig McNair along for the ride (he lasted one term).
In 2005, Michael Cullen passed a bill relating to overseas investment, much to the chagrin of the late Rod Donald, and was particularly flamboyant in the process: revelling in the cosmetic differences between ordinary Kiwis and Shanaia Twain.
2005 and National thought they had the election all sewn up. Unfortunately (for them) the evangelical presence of certain Brethren stained Don Brash's crisp white shirts and they lost. Narrowly.
But back to the doco.
I like the fact it took resource management seriously. Ultimately, managing the country's natural and physical resources is a dry but all-important game. So far, its management has pitted communities against one another, particularly along cultural lines. But more and more, Kiwis are coming together and joining a club of economic nationalism.
Pakeha are sometimes portrayed as thinking of good environmental management as only what protects their property from whatever is over the fence. I've always hated that belittling view. The fact is plenty of white-faced Kiwis are concerned about how the RMA is applied, and plenty are concerned about the apparent lack of care governments have exercised at protecting our patch in the past.
Moana Jackson might see injustice as only capable of being inflicted on a culture (versus humanity as a whole), but surely they're not mutually exclusive and an offence against one hurts the other.
Bah. Docos suck.
