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Hero image for The Years Back - 1, The Twentieth Century (Episode One)

The Years Back - 1, The Twentieth Century (Episode One)

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1973

Made for television, this 13-part National Film Unit series aimed to showcase "people and events that shaped the New Zealand of today". The Bernard Kearns-presented series is mostly composed of footage taken from NFU stock. Fascinating early film clips are accompanied by interviews with elderly gents and ladies who reminisce about events as they unfold on the screen. This edition focuses on the opening decades of the 20th century; the nostalgia takes a dark turn when bow tie-wearing Kearns discusses World War I and provides alarming statistics of loss of life.

You just imagine having a weapon of that sort – having a steel monster coming at you – can you imagine how demoralising it was?
– A WWI veteran recalls the horrors of trench warfare

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