Draft 2 PhD Introduction - ResearchSpace@Auckland

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magazines around the country (some extracts from these have already been quoted).
The Christchurch Press went so far as to publish an article entitled “NZ Film ‘a work of
genius’”, quoting Professor Albert Johnson as saying that the young filmmakers “had
control of their material, knew how to sustain mood and direct actors, and had ‘a visual
sense of story-telling’”. 419 Catherine de la Roche in The Dominion called the film “a
fine achievement”, 420 and the reviewer for the Salient judged the film to be “In many
ways […] the finest piece of New Zealand filmmaking I have ever seen”. 421 Michael
Heath saw the film as being “without all doubt, the most sensitive and intelligent film
that has ever been made in New Zealand” and “a landmark in New Zealand
filmmaking”. 422 Like Heath, a number of reviewers saw the film as an inspirational
example of the emergent New Zealand film industry. Howard McNaughton in the
Christchurch Press wrote that the release of the film was an “exciting event” on “just the
right scale”, 423 and Maurice Askew, the president of the Canterbury Film Society, and
Ward’s film teacher at Ilam, claimed that A State of Siege was the “most provocative
New Zealand film yet made”. 424 McNaughton’s review saw the visual storytelling
methods utilized as central to the film: “It is in terms of visual narrative that this film
achieves its most fascinating complexity. Many of Frame’s most elaborated gestures
are severely simplified and the verbal content is very small, but the visual articulation of
the nightmare and death is given a psychoexpressionistic suggestiveness”. 425
Not surprisingly, reviewers singled out for special comment the creation of mood in the
film. Nicholas Reid in the Auckland Star wrote: “The film’s most remarkable
achievement is the great variety of moods that are packed into just under an hour of
running time”, 426 and Wynne Colgan in the NZ Herald concurred with his opinion: “It
was an astonishing mood piece […], proof positive of what can be achieved by young
people of talent and imagination, even when finance is limited and the assignment they
set themselves is formidable”. 427 This was one way to identify the difference between
the film and more action-oriented features (such as Sleeping Dogs, Roger Donaldson,
419
"New Zealand Film a Work of Genius," Christchurch Press 14 July 1978: 4.
420
De la Roche, “Joint Work Turns Janet Frame Novel into Film”.
421
Wilson, “A State of Siege,” 19.
422
Heath, "Superb Work from Youth and Age."
423
Howard McNaughton, "Overflow Showing for Exciting New Zealand Film," Christchurch Press 14
July 1978: 6.
424
Askew quoted in McNaughton, "Overflow Showing for Exciting New Zealand Film," 6.
425
McNaughton, “Overflow Showing for Exciting New Zealand Film,” 6.
426
Reid, "A State of Siege," 8.
427
W. Colgan, "Daunting Challenge," NZ Herald 29 July 1978: 6.