Curated by the NZ On Screen Team
This collection brings together 18 titles covering Kiwis at war. Iconic documentaries and films tell stories of terrible cost, heroism and brotherhood. Each title raises fundamental questions about our identity. Dr Chris Pugsley muses, “It is sobering to think that in the first half of the 20th Century the big OE for most New Zealanders was going to war.”
This documentary gave NZ viewers, for the first time, a Turkish view of the Gallipoli story. Produced for TVNZ and Turkish TV, it focuses on four young people, two Turks and two New Zealanders, descended from Gallipoli veterans, as they explore the grim reality of their ancestors’ experience.
Six Māori Battalion soldiers camped in Italian ruins wait for night to fall. In the silence the bros-in-arms distract themselves with jokes before a tohu (sign) brings them back to reality. Directed by Oscar-nominated Taika Waititi it won international acclaim: honourable mention at Sundance and a special jury prize at Berlin.
In Gaylene Preston’s lauded documentary, seven elderly women recall their personal experiences of World War II. From tragic love stories to long-suppressed revelations of sex and death, War Stories is a richly revealing touchstone of (untold) New Zealand history.
The story of the New Zealand Army's (28th) Māori Battalion, this Tainui Stephens documentary tells the stories of five men who served with the unit. Narration (by actor George Henare), remembrances, visits to historic sites, archival footage, create a stirring screen tribute.
This seminal 1984 documentary tells the stories of the New Zealand soldiers who were part of the identity-defining Gallipoli campaign in World War I. In the ill-fated mission to take a piece of Turkish coastline, 2721 New Zealanders died with 4752 wounded. It won a Feltex Award for Best Documentary.
Actor Wi Kuki Kaa plays a Vietnam War veteran who is dislocated by his war experience and homeless. A moving short film about a man jolted to find his turangawaewae and the whanau that helps him get there. Directed by Peter Burger, it was selected for Critics' Week at Cannes (2003).
Actor Robyn Malcolm visits the towns of Passchendaele and Ypres in Belgium - near the cemetery where her great uncle, Private George Salmond, is buried, and reflects on his sacrifice on foreign whenua. Salmond, an ANZAC signaler, was among the 18,500 New Zealand casualties of World War I.
A live broadcast (for TV One) of the Anzac Day dawn service at Waikumete Cemetery. This service commemorates all service personnel who have served overseas for New Zealand. Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey speaks, Returned Services Association members, politicians and the public lay tributes.
This newsreel features footage of Māori Battalion solders returning from WWII to Wellington Harbour. The soldiers are greeted with a huge powhiri and at the ensuing hakari at Porirua marae the kaimoana and pia flow freely. The reel then follows men returning home in Kuku and Ngaruawahia.
Director David Blyth chronicles the times at war of his bossy yet personable grandad and WWI veteran, Lawrence ‘Curly' Blyth, who died in 2001, aged 105. Curly fought on the Western Front and helped liberate the town of Le Quesnoy from German forces, winning the French Legion of Honour.
An annual television event from the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Wellington. Diplomats from all over the world lay wreaths, along with the Governor General and politicians. Broadcaster Ian Johnstone provides context via a knowledgeable and unobtrusive commentary.
A profile of the Returned Services Association on its fiftieth anniversary, taken from 1960s current affairs show Compass. The RSA’s varied roles include welfare, watchdog, and keeper of the flame. Curios include the Taumaranui RSA bar which makes a good return in a town that is officially dry.
Kiwis have gone to war in their thousands, and many have not returned, from the horrendous loss of life at Gallipoli to the decimation of the Māori Battalion. This doco explores the experiences of soldiers, and the families who waited at home. It also examines the long tradition of protest against war.
During WWII the Post Office photographed letters, enabling mass mailing to soldiers via rolls of film. Post Office worker Ngaire (Yvette Reid) deals with mail for soldiers serving overseas. In this short writer-director Paolo Rotondo explores how war, death and distance affect relationships.
This Gaylene Preston-directed doco follows a "mob of veterans" (the oldest is 95) on a 2006 trip to unveil a war memorial in London's Hyde Park honouring NZ's service in war alongside Britain. For many of the elderly vets it is their second OE; they remember war stories and lost mates, and endure airport drudgery and jet-lag.
Between 1964 - 1972, 4,000 young Kiwis volunteered for service in Vietnam. Itching to get out into the world, the OE thrills were soon replaced by the horrors of war. Worse, they returned home to an angry public. This documentary lets the soldiers tell their stories for the first time.
Political cartoonist Malcolm Evans tells his father's story of war through his letters and diaries, and through interviews. Major Hilary Evans was a World War II prisoner of war who escaped and lived rough in Italy's hills and mountains to avoid recapture.
Vietnam veteran Frank Metcalfe revisits the country he served in 35 years before as a young officer. This time accompanied by his son, soldier-turned-producer Matthew Metcalfe, he recollects, “I look at this place, and I can’t help but think what on earth were we doing.”
Military historian Dr Chris Pugsley reflects on Anzac on screen: “[this collection] raises more questions than it answers, and so it should”. Read More >
Broadcaster Ian Johnstone considers: “that the responsibility for asking people to serve and fight, and perhaps die, belongs to all of us”. Read More >
NZ On Screen would like to thank TVNZ, TVNZ Archives, Archives New Zealand, NZ Film Commission, the producers and production companies, colleagues and contributors who helped with the compilation of this Anzac Collection. We also wish to acknowledge the many New Zealanders these titles honour.
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