How is it that New Zealanders make such great films?

Rating: 8/10 (2 March 2006)

The Australian Prime Minister has been celebrating his ten years in office this week.
I disapprove of the Australian Prime Minister.
He's a "rear-view mirror vision of society" kind of guy. It is often suggested that he hankers for a return to some long gone, probably mythical time. Some golden era when virtuous and upstanding citizens carried on their cloistered lives behind white picket fences.
He denies it.
But then back in 1997 he denied the state premiers and their health ministers the opportunity to participate in a properly supervised medical trial, to establish whether there were more suitable approaches to the problems of drug abuse then simple-minded prohibition.
The Prime Minister did not want the issue confused with evidence based upon observations made under controlled conditions. His attitude was reminiscent of the Renaissance Catholic Church and its opposition to the early Enlightenment practitioners of the scientific method.
The Prime Minister still believes the Viet Nam War was a just and worthy exercise in the battle for freedom. Never mind that its best-known proponent, the former US Defence Department Secretary, Robert McNamara, has publicly expressed his heart-felt regret over his, and his country's actions.
And of course the Australian Prime Minister was vociferously happy to make a puny contribution to George Bush's coalition of the willing. So puny that, to my recollection, Australia is not even mentioned in the list of unlikely allies catalogued in Michael Moore's film, "Fahrenheit 9/11"
My charge against the Prime Minister is simply this.
He is guilty of sapping the spiritual, intellectual and moral resources of my country.
Think about just three of the rash of truly amazing films by American film makers hitting the cinemas at the moment, questioning the spiritual, intellectual and moral fabric of that country.
Good Night and Good Luck Syriana Lord of War
Is it possible that they are a direct response to the re-election of a power clique that flagrantly mislead (read "lied to") their constituents and were exposed in their perfidy?
Cut. Back up a minute. Did you spot the odd one out?
Lord of War was written and directed by a New Zealander, Andrew Niccol.
He's a countryman of Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and Lee Tamahori, who's criminally under-rated Mullholland Falls, was a profound insight into the state of the post war American malaise and its causes.
How is that New Zealanders can produce such great films?
I love Australian films, but I have to admit the last few years have not really produced anything astounding. I have to go back to David Caesar's 2001 film, Mullet to nominate a film I consider to be truly great, and who has heard of Mullet?
Could it be something about the cultural climate the form and pressure that has moulded the age and body of its current fabric?
America, Australia and New Zealand are, or were, members of a military alliance until New Zealand had the temerity to insist that American ships bearing nuclear armaments would be denied docking facilities in its ports.
Tiny New Zealand, the shaky isles, that antipodean outpost where the population suffers an irrational and guilty fear of pronouncing vowels, found the internal strength of character to stand up for a conviction.
Of course Australia, then led by a nominally left wing government, had no such scruples. And of course Australia supported the invasion of Iraq, not heeding the lesson taught by the Viet Nam fiasco. that such modern day crusading should not be attempted without rigorously defined and specified goals and a pre-planned exit strategy.
But then Australians are apparently fearful of causing any trouble that might endanger their life-defining, life absorbing obsession with amassing wealth, in the form of land and buildings. And God help anyone who does anything that might upset the delicate balance required to keep this chimera of prosperity intact.
Is that the reason that Australian culture is currently so second rate? Is that the reason that the local film industry that is capable of producing such great art is currently struggling to produce even mediocre films?
Let's not delude ourselves. New Zealand is probably no "heaven on earth". And yet it keeps throwing up players who strut the world stage with such assurance and artistry.
Take Andrew Niccol.
He wrote the script for the Truman Show, only to have it taken from his capable hands and given to an Australian director, who did a competent but not breath-taking job.
Then he wrote and directed Gatica. Films about androids, clones and genetically modified humans doing battle with mere mortals are not really my thing. But Gatica was engaging, intelligent and well made.
But with Lord of War, Niccol has really hit his straps, An unbelievable plot line that is totally credible. Its denouement catches the viewer unawares, after watching the arms dealer Nicholas Cage manoeuvre his way brilliantly through the minefields of international arms dealings for one hundred and twenty minutes. This is George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara retold for a twenty-first century audience.
The film looks great - apparently it is cheaper to gain access to warehouses full of real guns than to mock up sets with fake ones.
All the performers are first rate.
The narrative maintains a forward momentum, built as it is around Cage's engaging off camera addresses to the audience. And the inventiveness of his character's ploys to escape prosecution and maintain good relations with amoral killers while wooing and winning his childhood femme fatale keeps the viewer constantly entertained.
Australians have made amazing films for relatively small amounts of money. They have cobbled together a laconically passionate and yet surprisingly morally self aware and searching film culture.
But it has not been evident for a while.
Maybe around ten years?