At first I thought Forgotten Silver was a joke, but I changed my mind when I saw that one of the greatest of contemporary film historians and critics, Leonard Maltin, had contributed his insights to the story of film pioneer Colin McKenzie. It's an amazing story of how an inspired and dedicated film genius, located in New Zealand, anticipated and invented so many of the film techniques we take for granted now. It's hard to comprehend how this one man gave us such things as steam-powered projection systems, the first tracking shot, the first example of a talking movie, the first color film, the first close-up. He was naive, yes, but with the naiveté of the innocent. The first talking movie, for instance, featured Chinese day laborers speaking their native tongue. Mr. McKenzie, regrettably, neglected to provide sub-titles. While New Zealand movie goers stayed away in droves, the purity of his intent is beyond question. He was an unsung genius who had the courage of his beliefs. He was there filming man's first heavier-than-air flight. He invented a small motion picture camera which, in partnership with Stan the Man, anticipated the spontaneous hilarity of Candid Camera. For those, like me, who had never heard of Stan the Man, Stan was an inspired silent comic who specialized in attacking the unsuspecting. His pie in the face gag featuring the New Zealand prime minister resulted in Mr. McKenzie's filmed reaction of the prime minister's police escort, which was the forebear of the Rodney King cinema verite. McKenzie's superlative creative achievement, of course, was his three-hour film of Salome. He built a vast city in the jungles of New Zealand (which was newly discovered and is being excavated). It took him years to achieve the financing and it resulted in a deep, permanent personal tragedy. Yet the film, newly restored, reaffirmed not only Mr. McKenzie's vision, but also strengthened so many of our feelings about silent films. Harvey Weinstein, then chairman of Miramax, reaffirmed Mr. McKenzie's genius and emphasized how happy Mr. McKenzie would be that Mr. Weinstein himself insisted that an hour be cut from the restored film. Colin McKenzie was an unsung genius who periodically would disappear, then reemerge with new inventions and passions to over-awe those of us who now are familiar with his extraordinary accomplishments. Yet no one really knew him. His inventions never led to acclaim or fortune. His disappointments were great. His legacy, in fact, was accidentally found in a locked chest in an old shed at the bottom of his widow's garden. There, two young filmmakers, Peter Jackson and Costa Botes, found reel after reel of film, stored and long forgotten in rusting containers. If it hadn't been for this chance discovery, we might never have learned of Mr. McKenzie's transforming impact on film making. Mr. McKenzie died tragically during the Spanish Civil War, shot while trying to rescue a wounded soldier. How deeply inspiring it would be if those of us who love film could watch, and re-watch, and watch again, D. W. Griffith, Alfred Hitchcock, Louis B. Mayer or F. W. Murnau as they died. Thanks to the foresight of Mr. McKenzie, who set up his camera to film his rescue attempt, we can with this New Zealand...no, this world...genius of film. He died as he lived...with his sprockets turning. Despite the deteriorated condition of so much of Mr. McKenzie's film record, Jackson and Botes have put together a compelling documentary. They wisely intersperse contemporary evaluations of Mr. McKenzie's achievements and the recollections of his widow with many examples of Mr. McKenzie's pioneering work. But what of the young filmmakers themselves, who brought us the McKenzie story? Little is known of Botes. Jackson, however, can be founded occasionally working on the fringes of film-making. His innovative use of New Zealand middle school students to film a fantasy about middle earth was well received by the students' parents. Unfortunately, his attempt to use advanced technology to solve the problem of filming a story featuring a gorilla which had been fed football steroids met with mixed results. Holding a magnifying glass in front of his camera lens while photographing a chimpanzee and pretending it was a giant ape was too advanced a leap for most movie ticket buyers.

To fully appreciate this film, you must consider two things. First, this is a MOCumentary. It is not a real story, but instead something created through the imagination of a very rich storyteller. Second, this film was released to the general New Zealand public without them knowing that this was a mocumentary and they completely felt that it was a real occurrence. They took the bait … hook, line, and sinker. It reminded me of the fear that Orson Welles was able to conjure when he did 'The War of the Worlds' broadcast in 1938. Welles was able to create a mythological occurrence that was packaged so well that audiences bought it. This is the same with Peter Jackson's creation, Forgotten Silver. Jackson's attention to detail and excitement behind this project is seen with every digitized photo, every sound bite, and every word of the story. The great idea behind mocumentaries is that you have the opportunity to create a world from the ground up. I think this was an aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed about this picture was every creative angle that Jackson took with his characters. They were flawed, but in a good way. They were real, yet in a sense very cartoonish. They gave you this dream about life that is normally missing in most films, yet these guys were never alive for you to believe in. It was funny how deeply rooted you could become with this film until you had to pull yourself away and say that it was just a work of fiction. For anyone to say that about a film means that the filmmaker is doing a spectacular job. The only director that I can think of that closely able to pull this off today is Christopher Guest, but even in his work you can tell that it is a mocumentary from the beginning. Jackson never gives you the opportunity to find the truth. Everything he hands to you has been researched and tested giving us the chance to believe in our man Colin throughout all of it.Perhaps what I am trying to say here is that Jackson doesn't just create a story, he creates a world filled with emotion and chaos. It is easy to create a story, books are released everyday, but to put visuals with this story AND build a main character that the average Joe can relate to is much harder. While only pushing 60 minutes, Jackson had quite a bit of work on his hands. This was not an easy project. Jackson not only had to play director, but also put himself into the film that I think only helped build the mirage of truth. You kept forgetting that he created this story, yet was in it himself. It honestly takes away that feeling of cinematic rubbish that Hollywood releases daily and builds a true story.The interventions between Harvey Weinstein, Sam Neill, and Leonard Maltin only help build more of that 'truth' to the film. You hear these men from the industry talk about this fictitious man named Colin McKenzie, you begin to believe that perhaps he was alive and Jackson is just trying to tell the truth. While I have spoken heavily about the amazing fake factoids that Jackson disperses through the film, what I found funny was the type of humor that Jackson placed intermittently throughout the film. The idea of Stan the Man is brilliant and his 'Rodney King' moment proved that it is always possible for history to repeat itself. The jail time that Colin faced due to his 'smut' film had me rolling in my seat. The exuberant size of the extras needed for this film kept me smiling throughout. There was just something about this humor that made me excited about my educational background.Finally, I would like to say that the fact that the New Zealand public never realized that it was a mocumentary should already prove the worthiness of this film. I do not see why it didn't receive more press than it did, but this has been the biggest film enjoyment of the week. I remember a line from a film that went something like this, 'The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist'. Think of this line as you witness Jackson's film Forgotten Silver. It will make you curious.Overall, I thought that this film was beautiful. Midway through this film you will loose track of reality and think that you are watching a true documentary, and that is when you can realize that you have a master director giving you a perfect 'gem'. This was not a film filled with violence and annoying Gollems, but instead cunning wit and satire. Jackson continually proves that he can handle so much more than just The Lord of the Rings with this film. No CGI is needed to see the imagination and brilliance behind this visionary. For those of you that are huge Lord of the Rings fans, you may not enjoy it as much, but for me this was Jackson in his truest form. Bravo!Grade: ***** out of *****

This is one of the best films I've ever seen. Touching, real, funny. It's not a mocumentary at all because I don't feel that the point of the film is to MOCK anything. It is more, a great homage. I liked it more after witnessing Jacksons later works (i.e. LOTR). I felt as though Jackson created his own hero, his own sort of avatar by compiling all the qualities he thinks a great film artist should possess. In that sense it becomes a very post-modern work, and I believe, a very mature work, about a very human struggle to create those great epics against all odds. It inspired me to view some of Fritz Langs early work, which have some of the same phenomenal qualities as LOTR, especially the Nibelung.

****Warning, Spoilers*******Hopefully the success of Lord of the Rings will encourage more people to seek out this wonderful 1995 mockumentary. This short film not only showcases Peter Jackson's versatility as a director, but also acts as a tribute to the early pioneers of cimema. Yes, the whole thing is one big lie, but it's a lie which may just get casual viewers interested in the work of the likes of D.W. Griffith and the Lumiere brothers, who are regularly namechecked in the film.At first sight, the story of New Zealand film pioneer Colin McKenzie is completely convincing. Details of his life are intercut with real historical events such as the First World War and the Spanish Civil War. The footage from McKenzie's films looks authentically degraded, just as if it had been shot on primitive cameras a century ago. Peter Jackson and co narrate the story in a completely straight, documentary style, while the inclusion of interviews with real life industry figures such as Harvey Weinstein, Leonard Maltin and Sam Neil lends the film an air of absolute authenticity (so much so that, as the DVD making-of reveals, for 24 hours after the initial showing of the film on TV, New Zealand thought it had discovered a lost national hero). But then little doubts start to creep in, and this is where much of the humour is. To say any more would be to spoil it, but needless to say much of the fun in Forgotten Silver comes from the fact that Peter Jackson and Costa Botes were so successful in pulling the wool over everyone's eyes while at the same time including absolutely outrageous details in McKenzie's life.As a side note, it's interesting to note the similarities between McKenzie's epic production of Salome and Peter Jackson's real life epic of The Lord of the Rings, which was four years away from filming at the time of Forgotten Silver's release. Salome, the production of which makes the shooting of Apocalypse Now seem like the filming of an average episode of Friends, took it's creator five years to film, featured epic battle sequences and required a huge cast and the construction of massive sets in the New Zealand country side. Sound familiar? If nothing else, this is a spooky foreshadowing of Jackson's later career in one of his own films. Then again, maybe Jackson had always wanted to make an epic, but at that stage in his career had to settle for a fake one.Either way, Forgotten Silver is an utterly delightful, charming hoax which surely deserves a wider audience.Rating - 8/10