Reviews and notes

World Premiere - 9th Wellington Film Festival 1980.


I dead loss. I very sad inside me felling no good. But I have to stay.


Vincent Ward is a young New Zealand film-maker whose previous film was A State of Siege, a wonderful adaptation of Janet Frame's novel, aptly described by the author herself as 'a beautiful poem'.

His new film is a documentary, In Spring One Plants Alone, which was filmed over 18 months and catalogues an elderly Maori woman's efforts to look after her sick middleaged son, the two of them living in very poor conditions in the country. What excites me about this film is the way the audience is made to work, to participate, to come to terms with what the film is 'saying'; for there is very little dialogue and, more importantly, no voice-over narration. This absence of narration distinguishes Ward's film to its advantage, from the more traditional (and potentially, boring) type of standard N.Z. Documentary (exemplified by product from the N.F.U.)

The only indication that the time-span does in fact cover 18 months is the occasional change in weather (in one shot we become aware that it is raining heavily; is it winter now?). The film's 'story' as such is conveyed through a series of short scenes, composed of selected images beautifully photographed by Alun Bollinger and Leon Narbey. The camera will often concentrate on particular details in an individual scene - flexing hands, faces, feet emerging from the doorway, the everyday objects of the mother and son's life. There is a purely aesthetic quality to the images which gives the film a pictorial strength - take, for example, the magical shot near the beginning of the film of two white horses emerging from the mist. Such effects are obtained throughout the film. The minimal dialogue provides a sound-track which is extremely sensitive to the mood of the house. Significant noises are on a couple of occasions highlighted by the camera's observation of the cats' reactions to them. Jack Body's music fits perfectly the mood of the film.

There are several individual scenes which are a pure delight in their warmth of feeling, such as the scene in the barber shop, or when the mother unwraps an ice-block for her son. An even more touching scene is when she stands outside her house and talks directly to the camera about her fears regarding her son's outbursts of violence. The final shot conveys wonderfully the mood the film ends in and also demonstrates Ward's ability to use cinema effectively: the camera, in close-up on the old lady cutting wood outside, pulls back to reveal her son standing with his back to his mother (and to the camera) and staring at the trees behind; the camera then shifts slightly to the right and the credits come up.

This is a N.Z. film which in no way needs to be treated condescendingly, to be apologised for, which can easily be judged on world standards and recognised as a superb and very moving film. I cannot think of enough superlatives to express the total enthusiasm in my reaction to this film. If the chance arises, make sure you see this film.
- Ian Johnston, Craccum, 1980.




Screening with A STATE OF SIEGE

Weblink: A Film Review by The Lumiere Reader of our screening.

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