  The nature of the extreme kinematics in the extended gas of distant radio
galaxies (z>0.7) is still an open question. With the advent of the 8-10 m
telescope generation and the development of NIR arrays we are in the position
for the first time to develop a more detailed study by using lines other than
Lya and [OII]3727 depending on redshift. In this paper we review the main
sources of uncertainty in the interpretation of the emission line kinematics:
the presence of several kinematic components, Lya absorption by neutral
gas/dust and the contribution of scattered light to some of the lines. As an
example, several kinematic components can produce apparent, false rotation
curves. We propose methods to solve these uncertainties. We propose to extend
the methods applied to low redshift radio galaxies to investigate the nature of
the kinematics in distant radio galaxies: by means of the spectral
decomposition of the strong optical emission lines (redshifted into the NIR) we
can isolate the different kinematic components and study the emission line
ratios for the individual components. If shocks are responsible for the extreme
kinematics, we should be able to isolate a kinematic component (the shocked
gas) with large FWHM (>900 km/s), low ionization level [OIII]5007/Hb~2-4 and
weak HeII4686/Hb<0.07, together with a narrow component (~few hundred km/s)
with higher ionization level and strong HeII emission (HeII/Hb~0.5)
