Country Lads [extracts], National Film Unit, 1941
"Week after week thousands of us have been in training - ever since we in New Zealand undertook to pull our weight in this war." A moving commentary accompanies scenes of troop departures and marching. "They are soldiers and fighters because they know that as things are, only soldiers and fighters can make the world safe for civilians to live in - safe for women and children and decent ordinary people. Troops march through Wellington city, in and around parliament grounds and along Waterloo Quay. The newsreel was a Government Propaganda tool aimed at keeping up public morale at home.
We know and the men in the camp knew that the training was for a war that would be fought on the other side of the world. We knew that ships would take the New Zealanders there. And already many of those who went have fought and suffered in the front line. Yet until now only a handful of us have known what troop departures look like - how it feels to say "au revoir" to soldiers, friends and relations at the ship's side - the sorrow and the pride of it.
Just a few months ago, these men were working along side of us in ships, factories, cowsheds and offices - Good workers and good friends. We might be talking to a man in the tram or in the pub one day, and find him in uniform the next week, an Anzac. Or we might be Anzacs ourselves. This is a war with everyone in it - women too. It is just a matter of taking our turn. In a few weeks or a few months, we may be on the inside - trained, skilled and proud of it. So we look on, at what might be ourselves. It's not just another army marching past, but our army. They weren't used to marching in step then, but if marching had been a useful job in civil life, they would have done it. If it's milking, they can milk. If it's building roads, they can navvy. If it's banking, they can bank. And if it's fighting, they can make a pretty thorough job of that too. Anytime we see them, they are marching or on parade, with only their shoulder patches to show that here is a group of men, skilled in every trade and profession - soldiers who used to be civilians, and took all their skill in to the army with them. Artillery, Nurses, Army Service Corps, Signallers, Air force and plain P.B.I. gunners, doctors, grocers, telegraph operators, men from the Public Works, and women from hospitals, workers and employers - our Army, ourselves. Civilian into Soldier. It is an old story, but this time it is about us, and that makes it different. There is no "goose-stepping" here. Just a swinging stride of free men, who have put on their working clothes and got into step for the biggest job ever tackled. They are soldiers and fighters, because as things are, only soldiers and fighters can make the world safe for civilians to live in. Safe for women and children and decent ordinary people." Poor, deluded country lads," Hitler called them, though no army in all history has known better what it is up against, or what it is fighting for. They helped to make this country the way it is - happy, prosperous, free. Country lads and town lads, they have gone right across the world to help those feel like us, to be free, and happy too.
Discussion Points:
- "The sorrow and the pride of it"
- "Au revoir" – see you again, not goodbye. Positive, hopeful tone.
- Extensive use of the plural pronoun "we"
- Emphasise the Kiwi soldiers are normal everyday folks"
- "people next door off to war"
- "taking our turn"
- Imagery – "no goose-stepping here. Just a swinging stride of free men . . ."
- Departing – smiling, waving, thumbs up, hongi etc. Off for a big adventure?
- Listing – occupations of soldiers, emphasises they’re from all walks of life
- Parallel structure – soldiers and fighters . . .
- Emotionally-toned adjectives – happy, prosperous, free
- Incomplete sentences/Ellipsis – "Civilians into soldiers", "Safe for women . . ."
- Acronym – use of a familiar and patriotic term, ANZAC.
- Discuss this great line: "It is an old story, but this time it is about us, and that makes it different."
