For Anzac Day and to remember those who gave their lives for our country, we're sharing some films about New Zealanders and their unique experiences of war on our VOD site, New Zealand Film on Demand. There are two features and two short films.
War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us (1995)
G
Directed by Gaylene Preston
Gaylene Preston’s documentary deals with the personal experiences of seven women during WWII. Through interviews, archival footage, still photographs and popular songs of the time, she paints a wholly absorbing and fascinating portrait of wartime New Zealand.
The women’s experiences are all different, yet almost all involve romance. Several had passionate, last-minute unions as young men were called to go to war. Others were fleeting encounters with American GIs who were stationed here for a period of time. Some women lost their husbands to the war; others grew tired of waiting for them to return and found romance elsewhere.
Home By Christmas (2010)
PG Low level offensive language
Directed by Gaylene Preston
This can be seen as a companion piece to 1995’s War Stories, Gaylene Preston’s fascinating documentary about women’s experiences in WWII New Zealand. In that film Preston interviewed her mother, Tui; this time she turns to her father’s story.
Tony Barry stands in for Eddie Preston, who died in 1997, posing as her father through a series of interviews. Intercut with the interview is archival footage and beautifully rendered re-enactments featuring Martin Henderson as the young Eddie, and Preston’s daughter, Chelsea Preston-Crayford as Tui.
Poppy (2009)
PG Violence
Directed by James Cunningham
Poppy is set on France’s western front in World War One. Two New Zealand soldiers are trapped behind enemy lines. They find a baby in a muddy ditch, under its dead parents. One of the men wants to save it – the other does not.
Based on true events, Poppy was written by the great-grandson of one of these soldiers.
Tama Tū (2004)
PG
Directed by Taika Waititi
Six Māori Battalion soldiers wait for night to fall in the ruins of a Italian home. Forced into silence they keep themselves amused like any boys would, with jokes and laughter. As they try to ignore the reminders of war around them, a tohu (sign) brings them back to the world of the dying.
Taika Waititi's short film is a tribute to all of those soldiers of the 28th Battalion who were lost and to the mana (status) and lives of those who were not.