S1.E2 ∙ White Gravel

Our film explores the decade of the involvement of New Zea land troops in the war in Afghanistan. Given our status as a tiny Pacific nation, with an independent foreign policy, the film asks why we got involved. Were we being good global citizens or were we attempting to realign ourselves with the US given the past strains due to our anti-nuclear policy? We also explore the limitations of our embedded media coverage which was not just scarce but closely followed our Government's position that our role was largely humanitarian. Finally, the film reflects on indigenous issues and some of the conflicts Maori soldiers felt about participating in what increasingly appeared to be an occupation.

This film is a triptych with three stories, involving three characters. They live in different parts of Europe: Western Europe -Catalonia (Spain); Eastern Europe -Lithuania; and in the new Europe -Georgia (Akhazia). They have experienced, in different parts of the 20Th century, civil wars and dictatorships. They share the same fate: they stayed where they were born. This film is about people who decide to do nothing in times of war, oppression and occupation. They choose a life amidst the ruins of their past. Even when this choice leads to loneliness: living a dream, not a reality. Alone, between the graves of their loved ones, they spend their last days. They have frozen their lives by protecting themselves from the outside world.

Filmed over the course of 18 turbulent months in Scotland that took in a race murder, the G8 summit and the London bombings, Good Cop follows Strathclyde Police's Race Relations co-ordinator, Chief Inspector Tom Harrigan about his work in Glasgow, one of Europe's toughest cities.