Part of the always enjoyable Loading Docs series, this film introduces us to two Chinese refugees who came to New Zealand during Japanese occupation. At the time they could not buy property, but over time they built up a kumara growing business. At some point, a bling threatened to wipe out the whole kumara industry, but the Gocks gifted their resistant strain for free.
This documentary is wonderfully light in tone, with rhyming narration, and a sense of humor which is defined and matched by the Gock's themselves. As such it is immediately engaging, but just as quickly as it does that it starts dropping information which is equally engaging. On this front it is a really enjoyable film, but has the problem that many of the Loading Docs do – a problem which is also part of the success of the annual project, specifically the running time. As much as the 3-4 minutes restriction makes the films easy to watch and accessible to an online audience, at the same time this limits how much can be done.
This is the 'problem' with this film in particular – it is so instantly likable, and has a lot which makes you want to know more. I guess the other way to look at it is that the film succeeds by the same description (it sent me to Google once I had finished watching). So I guess six of one etc, but certainly it is worth a look.