"An interesting look at New Zealand’s National Film Unit and its historical context, specifically the creation of the organization and its evolution over time. . . . Governing Visions of the Real definitely challenges its reader to question what constitutes a film as a documentary, especially within governmental and political use."
— Kelly Rudolph, Film Matters
"Concentrating on the two decades of the NFU’s existence following its establishment in 1941, Governing Visions of the Real looks in turn at the wartime years, the post-war period with a continuing Labour Government, and the 1950s, mostly under a National administration. . . . It explores territory little covered in published work to date. . . . A most welcome addition to the slender body of scholarship on New Zealand nonfictional filmmaking."
— Russell Campbell, Studies in Documentary Film