NZ documentarian Will Watson (Haka and Guitars) tells the story of how the 10-year Bougainville Civil War was ended by...
NZ documentarian Will Watson (Haka and Guitars) tells the story of how the 10-year Bougainville Civil War was ended by some guitar-toting Kiwis.
In 1997, after 14 failed peace agreements, the New Zealand army stepped into the conflict with a radical new plan - instead of bringing guns, the unarmed soldiers took guitars. Condemned by the media, the peacekeeping mission pushed forward using only music, Māori culture and aroha to help end the worst civil war in the Pacific’s history.
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"One month on from the Christchurch terrorist attack, director Will Watson's film comes at tragically perfect time. Soldiers Without Guns depicts the truly incredible story of the New Zealand soldiers that entered the 10-year Bougainville Civil War and paved a way to peace and unity by sharing waiata, performing haka, understanding the culture, listening to women, and leaving the firearms in the cabinet. The story itself outweighs the barebones filmmaking that surrounds it, much like 2017's No Ordinary Sheila, but let's just be thankful Watson went to the immense effort—over a decade of effort, in fact—of bringing this necessary story to the screen."
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Flicks
Flicks"Soldiers Without Guns made me prouder to live in this country than any film in recent memory. Go see it."
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Stuff
StuffSoldiers Without Guns | Details
- Runtime
- 92
- Genre
- Documentary, War
- Country of origin
- New Zealand
