Pike River women never wanted to be famous

West Coast woman Sonya Rockhouse lay her head on the shoulder of her best friend Anna Osborne during an emotional scene in the Pike River film.

Sitting next to her at the film’s New Zealand debut at Greymouth's Regent Theatre, actress Robyn Malcolm is doing the same to her new close companion and fellow actress, Melanie Lynskey. The pair of iconic NZ screen queens undertook the powerful roles of the West Coast women affected deeply by the Greymouth tragedy. The Christchurch premiere of Pike River will take place this Thursday at the Isaac Theatre Royal.

“There was a part in the movie where my late husband is in it, he passed away about four years ago. And so, of course, that makes me very emotional on top of everything else … I put my head down on Anna's shoulder and she was sort of cuddling me,” Sonya told RNZ’s Nine to Noon the morning following the screening down south.

“And I looked over and here's Melanie and Robyn doing exactly the same thing. And I thought, wow, so they have forged this incredible friendship, just like the friendship that Anna and I have.”

But the Greymouth women would rather not have the spotlight cast upon them.

“I don't want to be this person who's on the TV or the radio or a movie being made about us,” Anna said.

“Unfortunately, we are in a position that that's where we are today because of what we've had to go through.”

Sonya Rockhouse, Robyn Malcolm, Anna Osborne and Melanie Lynskey at the premiere of Pike River in...
Sonya Rockhouse, Robyn Malcolm, Anna Osborne and Melanie Lynskey at the premiere of Pike River in Greymouth. Photo: Supplied
Almost 15 years after the mining disaster in which 29 men lost their lives, the Pike River film directed by Rob Sarkies had its New Zealand premiere. The film tells the story of the tragedy and its aftermath through the eyes of Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse. Anna lost her husband Milton in the disaster. Sonya's son Ben also died, while another of her sons, Daniel, was one of just two survivors.

Sarkies’ film focuses on the battles of Sonya and Anna, along with many of the other Pike River families, to get answers and justice. Sonya and Anna's fight went all the way to the top, with the Supreme Court ruling in 2017 that the decision to drop all charges against the mine’s boss Peter Whittall in exchange for a pay-out to the families was unlawful.

When first pitched the project, Anna said “my thoughts were why the hell do they want to make a movie about me? Because I thought that anyone in my position would do the same for their loved one.”

Sonya added: “We're two ordinary women who had no choice but to fight. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist or a person who is well educated with all these degrees and that to take on the government and the justice system.”

Sarkies, the director behind the story of the Aramoana massacre in Out of the Blue, remembered showing the West Coast women the finished Pike River film for the first time at his home.

“They sat in front of me and I watched their silhouette in front of the projector screen. And they were mirroring the actions of what was going on in the screen. It's like they were living the film,” he told Nine to Noon.

“It was probably the most remarkable two hours of my life watching my own film, but vicariously through them. At the end of the film, they were both completely silent. And Anna, after a minute or so, just turned to me and said, ‘I'm just so proud’.

“For the first time, both of them had seen themselves. They'd seen what they'd done.

“….In that moment, they suddenly saw what they'd done. And for me personally, it made everything worthwhile.”

Sarkies described the woman as “rare souls”, but at the same time “they are us”.

“Before I met them, I was fascinated by the Pike River story, but I didn't know how to tell it. Because there's no point, in my view, making a movie where a bunch of shitty things happen to people who don't deserve them, and they get rolled over by power,” Sarkies said.

“The story we found via Sonia and Anna was the opposite of that.”

Melanie Lynskey (Anna Osborne) and Robyn Malcolm (Sonya Rockhouse) in the 2025 film Pike River....
Melanie Lynskey (Anna Osborne) and Robyn Malcolm (Sonya Rockhouse) in the 2025 film Pike River. Photo: Supplied via RNZ / Matt Grace
The film ends shortly after Jacinda Ardern’s rise to prime minister in 2017. The following eight years are covered with on-screen titles skimming over unsuccessful efforts to recover the miners’ bodies and the attempts by the Labour Government to permanently close the mine.

“We have lived this for 15 years and the fights Sonya and I have had has been seven years' worth of fighting the law and politicians. And so the film captured just a small snippet of it,” Anna said.

Sonya and Anna said their fight is not over. They hold out hope there will still be a prosecution over the Pike River tragedy.

“I refuse to acknowledge any other alternative. As far as I'm concerned, there's got to be a prosecution,” Anna said.

“And if there's not, Sonia and I will amp up again and we will do the whole thing over if we don't get the right decision made. We cannot kill 29 men in a workplace and just walk away scot-free. That just doesn't happen in New Zealand.”