Candid cameras in wartime

Clandestine photos have been unearthed and turned into a documentary showing Kiwi soldiers during World War II as they have never been seen before.

- LAWRENCE WATT

Photography is one way we remember the terror of war - yet New Zealand's official film and photos of World War II were more propaganda than documentary. In the National Film Unit newsreels, Aotearoa's soldiers generally look amazingly neat, have positive facial expressions, except for the occasional piece, where survivors look haggard. Many official photos are glitzy and heroic, or light relief, with a few exceptions.

In the 28th Māori Battalion's case, footage runs for a few minutes at best, once it is edited. For reasons of security, all Kiwi soldiers were forbidden to take photos in WWII, or to keep personal diaries. But some soldiers, like Major Wally Wordley, an officer in the Māori Battalion's A Company, managed to get away with doing both.