Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News / Lifestyle

DVD review: When a city falls

Craig Nicholson
Hamilton News·
19 Mar, 2012 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

How do you do justice to the agony and emotion suffered by the people of Christchurch over the past 18 months?

What started as a large and scary quake in September 2010, turned into a deadly nightmare just over five months later.

Local film-maker Gerard Smyth had his camera at the ready for both quakes and displays heartfelt understanding of what was happening to his city.

What Smyth has done is capture the raw emotion of people he encountered as he, like thousands of others in the city, wandered bewildered among the post-quake ruins.

What he was seeing, and others were telling him, was about a sense of shock and disbelief at what they had seen and what they had been though.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

What Smyth has produced is the type of documentary that offers some understanding to those of us who have no appreciation of what the people of Christchurch went through.

The raw emotion is evident as Smyth himself breaks down when he comes across the heavily damaged Catholic Church he had served in many years previously as an alter boy.

When you watch it you are drawn into their world of suffering.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

You will also be able to watch it in years to come as memories fade of the destruction and the city of Christchurch re-emerges.

When A City Falls

(M), Roadshow Entertainment

Rating: 4 / 5 stars

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Punk holy grail: Strung Out to play landmark album live across NZ tour

30 Apr 10:00 PM
Lifestyle

Pink Floyd Experience back on tour with The Wall+

29 Apr 10:00 PM
Waikato Herald

Homegrown recommits to Hamilton after Wellington exit

27 Apr 06:00 AM

Sponsored

Endangered bird gets another chance

21 Apr 02:30 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Punk holy grail: Strung Out to play landmark album live across NZ tour
Lifestyle

Punk holy grail: Strung Out to play landmark album live across NZ tour

Strung Out return in September to play four North and South Island shows.

30 Apr 10:00 PM
Pink Floyd Experience back on tour with The Wall+
Lifestyle

Pink Floyd Experience back on tour with The Wall+

29 Apr 10:00 PM
Homegrown recommits to Hamilton after Wellington exit
Waikato Herald

Homegrown recommits to Hamilton after Wellington exit

27 Apr 06:00 AM


Endangered bird gets another chance
Sponsored

Endangered bird gets another chance

21 Apr 02:30 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • NZME Digital Performance Marketing
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2026 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP