MovieChat Forums > Forgotten Silver (1997) Discussion > Wonder if the Kiwi's know...

Wonder if the Kiwi's know...

posted 18 years ago by Gemima
7 replies | jump to latest

That when they showed this in Australia (I think a few days after NZ)the hoax was revealed immediately after the film by some network personality (can't remember who) who said the purpose of the film was to prove how stupid New Zealanders were. "After the film aired in New Zealand," he gloated "80% of them believed it was true."

As a very young ex-pat Kiwi living in Australia I remember thinking at the time that it was hardly fair to compare which country was most gullible as they hadn't taken any time to see what percentage of Australians fell for the hoax.

I did fall for it - despite the impossibility that such achievements had somehow gone unnoticed all those years. At that age I proudly identified myself as a New Zealander and I wanted so badly for it to be true (Kiwi's flying before the Wright bros!) I think that's the real point of the film - it plays on our need to have our patriotism validated by discovering that we really ARE the greatest country on earth after all...

[–] GarryMMM 18 years ago

"Kiwi's flying before the Wright bros", well that is not so far fetched. I believe Richard Piece did infact fly before the wright brothers as so do many other kiwis http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] msmith240 18 years ago

It was the first powered flight, just not the first controlled flight.

[–] likemikexxiii 17 years ago

Haha I doubt 80% of us believed it. But it is great.

http://www.dvdaficionado.com/dvds.html?cat=1&id=michael.holden

[–] simply_trout 17 years ago

I think the reason a lot of us believe it is because we wanted so much for it to be true, it played on our desire for a great New Zealand film maker. Ironically, Peter Jackson went on to become that great film maker we wanted.

[–] colt_89 14 years ago

I knew this wasn't true when I watched it (granted, it was on dvd, so years after its release) and I really wished it was true. It would of been so amazing for all that stuff to have been done in New Zealand. I'm already incredibly proud to be a kiwi, but that would have me gloating about our superiority and such. Man, as I sit here, I still wish it was true - Would be amazing.

Funny thing is, Jackson doesn't realise at that point he's going to in a way revolutionize the New Zealand film industry with LoTR.

[–] brupey-1 14 years ago

It would of been so amazing for all that stuff to have been done in New Zealand
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Do you mean "would have"?