Tangiwai: A Love Story

Have stayed up tonight and watched a brilliant New Zealand TV-movie about the Tangiwai train crash in 1953, starring Rose McIver from The Lovely Bones. To quote the film's website:

"Bob Blair and 19 year-old Nerissa Love are deeply in love. Their love story alone is the stuff of movies, but what makes Bob and Nerissa’s story one of legends is that catastrophic events will cause their private love story to play out its final scene on an unlikely public stage. While Bob goes off to represent New Zealand at cricket in South Africa, Nerissa makes a fateful decision to travel to Auckland to be with her friend for Christmas. While Bob smashes wickets in Johannesburg, the train Nerissa is on heads straight for a bridge that spans the Whangaehu River – a place better known to most New Zealanders as Tangiwai. The Tangiwai disaster remains one of our most heart-wrenching and powerful New Zealand stories. Tangiwai explores a national tragedy through the eyes of two young people who embody all the hope of the post-war generation, a generation who were desperate to forge a new, independent path for their nation. "

Definitely glad I stayed up for it, so well made, tragic and beautiful. New Zealanders who missed it can watch online here, but it's not available overseas at this stage unfortunately. The trailer is on YouTube however, and you can watch it at the bottom of this post. It's been great to watch something that feels completely Kiwi, especially at a time when I've been really tiring of my country. I know it's a beautiful place, and we have a lot to be proud of, but it's easy to forget when surrounded by politics. I'm rapidly growing to loathe politics. I digress. More tomorrow, but for now gooodnight!

Tangiwai: A Love Story website.
Tangiwai: A Love Story Facebook page.