ANZAC Girls by Ken Cameron (DVD)

On ANZAC day each year, apart from television coverage of ANZAC commemorations, there are usually a few ANZAC Day themed programmes. I usually find these programmes too emotional to watch. This year however, on a recommendation, I watched the 2014 DVD series ANZAC Girls.

Based on the book "The other Anzacs" by Peter Rees, this six episode series follows the Australian and New Zealand nurses from the pre-Gallipoli days in Egypt, moving through the devastation of that campaign and the utterly unexpected casualty count, through the bitter months on the barren island of Lemnos, to the long hard years of the war in Europe and the Western Front.

Using diaries, letters, photographs and historical documents the series writers, Felicity Packard and Niki Aken, bring to life the daily struggles these nurses endured. Interspersed with the horrors of war the programme tracks the nurses as they cope with the day to day realities of life in a war zone.

Nonetheless not all the scenes are horrific and no Australian or New Zealand story would be complete without some humour and a little romance. But it is the friendships these nurses share with each other that really holds these six one-hour episodes together.

After watching this excellent series and spending a few hours at Te Papa’s excellent Gallipoli exhibition I feel I have more understanding on the lives of both the ANZAC men and women. Oh and yes, tears were shed.

Posted by The Rummaging Bibliophile

Catalogue link:  ANZAC Girls