Reviewed by Helen Martin

NZ 2011 funding NZ On Air prod co prod Errol Wright dirs/eds Errol Wright, Abi King-Jones camera Errol Wright sound Errol Wright, Matt Stutter consultants Alister Barry, Gaylene Preston Website www.cutcutcut.com 110 minutes DigiBeta

There are shocks galore in this outstanding political documentary. For me the most startling was hearing Ross Meurant, former detective, sometime National Party MP and the face of the much-hated Red Squad during the 1981 Springbok Tour, give frank insider insight into the mind of the New Zealand Police establishment.

According to Meurant, the world of law-enforcement-think is “a forest” where “the further you go into the forest, the more paranoid you become.” This paranoia, Meurant says, leads to detachment and a consequently distorted notion of reality. And while this is not news to those of us outside the institution, it’s amazing hearing it coming from one who was once so committed to it.

Another shock – Prime Minister Helen Clark, always keen to oil troubled waters with the voice of reason and calm, justifies the outrageous 15 October, 2007 police raids on a number of New Zealand’s political activists on the grounds that these people were planning terrorist attacks, posing a serious terrorist threat to the country’s security.

From the first scenes the tone is set for a down-home Orwellian nightmare, as black-clad, balaclava-wearing police smash their way into the homes of Ruatoki’s Tuhoe and of activists in other parts of the country in a series of early morning raids. Victims of the raids, including children, describe how the police, among other things, held guns to their heads, incarcerating them for hours with no food, water or toilet access. Several animal rights campaigners were among those targeted in the raids.

A huge strength of this meticulously constructed documentary is its scope. The 15 October events are carefully outlined – the arrests of several people under the 2002 Terrorism Suppression Act, the refusal of the Solicitor General, David Collins, to give consent to the charges being brought, the subsequent charging of 18 people in February 2008 (charges include ‘participation in an organised criminal group’ and ‘possession of weapons under the Arms Act’) and the strict bail conditions forcing many defendants to regularly travel the many miles to Auckland.

While local in focus, the issues raised in Operation 8 are global. Alongside the narration of events the film patiently provides a voice for a great number of protagonists – defendants, lawyers, Ruatoki locals, academics, former undercover cops and others, as it unpicks the historical, political and social contexts of those events: the Suppression Act looking for an outing; police abuse of power (some of which, such as the Guantanamo Bay threat, is just plain laughable); media demonisation of Tuhoe, in particular poster bad boy Tame Iti, capitalising on good ratings opportunities and to hell with the truth; government denial of Tuhoe’s claims for ownership of Te Urewera; the crude face of unabashed racism and class division in this country; and the insidious surveillance culture in which we are all now deeply embedded.

With a massive amount of footage to wrangle, filmmakers Errol Wright and Abi King-Jones (Caretakers of the Land, The Last Resort), with support from veteran documentary makers Gaylene Preston and Alister Barry, spent over three years making Operation 8. Their dedication and commitment is to be applauded.

Footnote
The 15 defendants due to go for trial on 30 May were told their fate would be decided by a single judge, rather than a jury. With their lawyers appealing against this, and against the admissibility of some evidence, the trials have been deferred for yet another year. Police Commissioner Howard Broad, who presided over the raids and arrests, has resigned, leaving the ongoing management to his successor, Peter Marshall. Continued support for the victims is being provided by October 15th Solidarity, www.October15thSolidarity.info.

Further reading
ed Danny Keenan. 2008. Terror in Our Midst?: Searching for Terror in Aotearoa New Zealand. Huia Publishers, Wellington.