Risk of calling a taniwha

By FRANCES GRANT

Travellers on the state highway through the Waikato might be wondering about the nature of the mythical Maori demon, the taniwha, and its ability to cause nasty accidents.

Divine Intervention/Ahu Mai Hohonu, tonight's episode in a Maori ghost stories series, Mataku (TV3, 9.30), should provide some enlightenment.

The drama begins with a spooky introduction from presenter Tem Morrison, although his warning - "there are some boundaries which should not be crossed" - is already familiar to the country's road builders.

Doubters of the powers of the mythical river dweller should check out what happens to a dog in the Jaws-like opening.

We see from below the surface four little canine legs swimming, then ...

Comedian Pio Terei plays small-town taxi driver Tama, who is tempted to call up a taniwha to deal with a new business competitor on the scene, a Samoan he rather disparagingly refers to as "Palm Tree".

As we have learned from the Waikato incident, not just anybody can go about calling a taniwha into action. There must be a relationship.

Tama's two incorrigible aunties leave off discussing their piles long enough to remind him of the monster in the river invoked by his ancestors to help beat off a warring tribe.

As it happens, Tama has a book of karakia, or chants, floating round in the back of the taxi - an heirloom he has inherited from his chiefly grandfather. He discovers that one of the karakia is designed to raise the tribe's taniwha from its lair in the river.

The temptation proves too strong for the taxi driver, who spends long nights watching potential customers hopping into the rival cab. A quick trip out to the river, an incantation, then ...

Forget those brightly coloured children's drawings, all teeth and claws. This taniwha is much more human-looking - an interesting, more psychological interpretation than the usual pictures of snake- or dragon-like creatures.

Before he can say "I'll take you into town for ten bucks, mate," Tama has done a deal with the devil, agreeing to the scary guy's condition to "pay all unsettled business".

Cue the aunties and their stories of a rather nasty tribal IOU to the taniwha of the heart of a chiefly daughter. Oh no, Tama has a daughter and he's chiefly, although as the aunties point out "it's hard to believe you got any subjects in School C".

The freak from the river sets out on his hit job but fear not: the story is leavened with much humour and comes across at times as an episode of, well, Pio.

There's the intriguing sight, too, of the taniwha - who is able to shape-shift into other people's bodies - sporting a rather fetching polyester zip-up cardie.

A taniwha might be serious business but this drama can't resist a send-up or two of Maoridom: "Listen, Palm Tree, this is my country and I have a traditional right to be a shameless, lying cheater," Tama tells his Samoan rival.

Perhaps humour is, in the end, the best way to banish nightmares and monsters.