Compelling TV in “A Place to Go”

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33493, 26 March 1974, Page 4

Compelling TV in “A Place to Go”

Considering all the people who appeared were not trained actors, the documentary “A Place to Go” on Sundaynight turned out to be a compelling piece of television reflecting well the appalling situation faced by many women and children who find themselves with nowhere to go-

It was perhaps because . these were real-life situations _ being dealt with quietly and i with real concern by the , Salvation Army that the pro- ‘ gramme was so effective. The film certainly proved what it set out to show — i that there is a real need in i the. community for the . emergency accommodation provided by the Salvation Army at its emergency lodge in Porirua and duplicated in major centres throughout the country. “A Place to Go” also took a look at some of the pressures on people through family breakdown. Some of the people helped at the , lodge had agreed to re-enact the circumstances leading up to their being taken in. The programme carried its own disquieting message that every night about 1500 women and children are homeless and that many are forced to turn to emergency lodges. Those highlighted in the film included a woman and her small daughter beaten up and excluded from the house by her de facto partner; a

woman whose husband would not give her money enough for their two children and herself to live on; a young unmarried mother who sought time to think away from her family and boyfriend pressuring her to get married; and a young woman who had recently tried to take her own life.

Written and directed by Wayne Tourell, the programme was produced by Reynolds Television, Ltd. This appears to be about the only independent television film-making company in New Zealand.

It is to be hoped that the advent of the second channel will encourage others to enter the field, although much will depend on the attitude adopted by the corporations. :l: $ ®

Centred on a Victorian dice game, with the representatives of the great powers playing a kind of power game, the “Scramble for Africa” told the story of the great land-grab better than any history lesson. The flavour of the early diamond and gold-rush days was well captured in this "British Empire” episode. As time progressed, the programme was able to use film clips taken of the events leading up to the Boer War, and of the fighting itself. The programme demonstrated with great clarity the almost incredible inflexibility of the British Army as it advanced in traditional manner in red uniforms, making perfect targets for the better-armed and accurate Boer marksmen.

Interesting too was tie fervent jingoism of the period kept alive by the musical halls of London, which at the end came up with the pointed comment expressed by war-weary soldiers: “We want to go home.” . , This particular episode tn the series dealt lightly with the shattering effect all this must have had on the African tribesmen, robbed ot more and more of their land and pressed into slaving for the masters of the diamond and gold mines. :’s $ & Friend Barlow was really at large on Sunday evening as he attempted to track down the source of forged notes in Cyprus. Somehow the image of the plump, hard-as-nails British cop disporting himself in the warm Mediterranean sun, and playing hard to get with the lovely girl with the comeon smile did not quite fit. The final crack-down carried out with military precision, when it did come, was something of an anticlimax to this Barlow adventure, which turned out to be a cross between a travelogue and romantic drama that did not come off. — K.C.