Silenced

Directed by Samantha Blanchard (2023)

Film Review

This 2023 New Zealand film features in-depth interviews with New Zealand sociologist Jodie Bruning and two high profile Kiwis, a long time TV/radio presenter and a GP, who  lost decades-long careers for speaking out about the dangers of Pfizer’s experimental Covid jab. A third hero, Auckland epidemiologist Simon Thornley, was advised by his attorney not to participate in this film. Instead it features a segment from TV One’s current affairs program Q & A, in which Thornley challenges Jacinda Ardern’s Covid narrative.*

Peter Williams, a major TV/radio personality in New Zealand for over 40 years, resigned as a radio announcer after his producer gave him a direct order not to interview attorney Sue Grey on his program after she successfully challenged the legality of the emergency rollout of the Pfizer vaccine to the country’s entire adult population. Williams was already in hot water for directing listeners to social media sites challenging the non-scientific basis of the government’s Covid narrative, including Voices for Freedom, New Zealand Doctors Speaking out with Science (NZDSOS) and journalist and statistician Guy Hatchard.

In addition to discussing his personal experiences, Williams also points out the massive funding the New Zealand government provided mainstream New Zealand media to promote Covid vaccination. Whereas traditionally the top purchasers of TV and radio advertising have been Toyota, MacDonald’s, Warehouse, Spark and Harvey Norman, in 2021 and 2022, most of their ads were replaced by constant government pro-vaccine messages.

Dr Anne Riley, long time (40 years) much loved Nelson GP, talks about being disciplined by the New Zealand Medical Council after appearing in a YouTube video with a high school student concerned about the impending vaccine roll-out in teenagers. The Medical Council’s began by sending her a so-called “voluntary undertaking.” It required her to sign an agreement not to distribute any pamphlets or participate in social media and to refer any patients seeking to discuss Covid vaccination to other doctors.

After amending (deleting the bits she disagreed with and providing detailed research supporting her position), she signed the third “voluntary undertaking” she received. In response, the Medical Council notified her in December 2021 that her medical registration had been suspended. After they informed her, it would take two years to appeal the suspension to the Medical Council Disciplinary Tribunal, she voluntary relinquished her medical license. She now serves on the steering committee of NZDSOS.

In the documentary, Riley is highly critical of the government’s decision to ban Ivermectin for prophylaxis and treatment of Covid infection. As she explains, banning Ivermectin was essential in both the US and New Zealand, as legislation in both countries only permits emergency licensing of experimental treatments (such as the Pfizer vaccine) in the absence of effective treatments.

The film also includes footage of Dr Pierre Kory, co-founder of the US group Frontline Covid-19 Clinical Care Alliance (FLCC) testifying to the US Senate about the US government deliberately suppressing the use of Ivermectin in prophylaxis and treatment of Covid. They note that YouTube famously took down Kory’s Senate testimony, a moved questioned by the mainstream Wall Street Journal. See YouTube Cancels the Senate

*Thornley was one of the first to speak out in mid-2021, criticizing the the unprecedented decision to lock down the entire New Zealand population instead of taking steps to protect the populations at risk for severe Covid infections (elderly, obese, chronically ill, etc);

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Silenced