Face to Face with Kim Hill - David Lange

In this 2003 interview with Kim Hill, former Prime Minister David Lange is both candid and upbeat. Aged 60 and battling ill health, Lange talks mortality, being a loner, and how powerless politicians often are. But he also finds positives: in living in Māngere, being a better parent, finally embracing vulnerability, and not being "haunted by death". Lange talks in detail about New Zealand's relationship with the United States and the world, after going anti-nuclear. He also recalls someone mistaking him for Robert Muldoon. Lange died in August 2005, two years after this interview — just as his autobiography hit book stores.  

...two occasions in my life when I came to be almost steadily mortal, immutably moral: when I went into surgery, and when I was in a motor racing team.

– David Lange on the upside of no longer maintaining the pretence of being in command, early in this interview

Key Cast & Crew

Kim Hill

Interviewer

Roger Green

Sound

Heather Church

Research

Maryanne Ahern

Producer

Peter Blake

Composer - Theme Music

Norman Sievewright

Director