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War Years

Film (Full Length) – 1983

This feature-length documentary looks back at New Zealand in World War ll, by compiling footage from the National Film Unit’s Weekly Review. The newsreel series screened in New Zealand cinemas from 1941 to 1946. War Years begins with Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage’s “where Britain goes, we go” speech, then covers campaigns in Europe, Africa and the Pacific, as well as life on the home front. The propaganda film excerpts have added narration and graphics, to give context to the war effort. Wruter Helen Martin called it "a fascinating record of documentary filmmaking at a crucial time in the country’s history".

In 1941 the National Film Unit was established. It's purpose was to promote the war effort. Weekly Review documented the war effort at home and overseas. This was pioneer filmmaking.
– From the narration

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