Gallipoli

The 1981 war film, Gallipoli, got a ton of flowers when it was released as critics and audiences were quite enamored with this small-budgeted Australian film, but nowadays, it’s hard to view it as anything other than another flower in a large bouquet. Considering that war films have existed since the origins of cinema itself, it’s a genre that many in the higher echelons treasure deary, but it’s also one that proves to be pretty stagnant and not the most inventive, producing similarly themed movies with repetitive scenes, overly familiar character archetypes and an oppressively harsh yet cinematically appealing tone.  While this film isn’t solely to blame for this over-saturation, it is a component that is more prominent with context and has hurt the film a fair amount in terms of rewatch-ability. Set in Western Australia in 1915, 18-year-old prize-winning sprinter, Archy Hamilton (played by Mark Lee) hopes to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force but is held back due to this age. After meeting Frank Dunne (played by Mel Gibson), a fellow sprinter who is currently unemployed, the two decide to head to Perth so that Archy can enlist due to the state’s less restrictive qualifications. Although Frank is at first reluctant to join due to having no love for the British, his growing friendship with Archy convinces him to sign, although they are placed in different regiments with Archy being placed into the Australian Light Horse Brigade, and Frank being placed into the infantry. After being separated for a few months before reuniting in Cairo, these two mates finally get their first taste of action when they are shipped off to the Gallipoli Peninsula and have to deal with the trenches firsthand as well as the jeer of the British commanding officers. Learning that they will be forced to take part in an attack that almost means certain death, will either be able to make it out of this alive? Gallipoli as a film took a while to get financed and needed the assistance of Australian film producer, Patricia Lovell, and then newly formed film company, Associated R&R Films, to receive the amount they needed, and the payoff was effective at the time. On its own, it is perfectly well made, housing solid direction, a straightforward but not ineffective script, and pretty good acting which allows the heart of the film to come through strongly. However, the film doesn’t stand out from amongst the crowd and doesn’t have enough noticeably strong qualities to help it rise above.

Even though the movie does present a tragically true situation, with the climatic charge over the trenches being a heavily modified version of the Battle of the Nek in 1915, where the British and their Allies launched an offensive assault on an enemy range through a feint attack by Australian troops which resulted in several hundred casualties, the movie isn’t really propped up by any sense of fact or historical accuracy. If anything, the film was heavily criticized for its portrayal of said event, with many taking issue with how the British commanding officers were showcased as one-note cartoonish archetypes who threw away Australian lives whilst ‘’drinking tea on the beach’’. Even though there was undoubtedly some tension between the British and Australian forces due to the British not appreciating the rowdier nature of the Australian folk (which the film does show), the manner in which this event is presented feels slightly bitter and biased (with director Peter Weir, being an Australian himself) and regardless of documented truth, doesn’t make it feel the least bit real. Weir’s movies are known for having a good track record but can also be a little polished up in a way that appeals to Hollywood, and you can feel that here, but not to the extent of some of his other movies. It does have the usual components that are highlighted in a war film, but the heart and focus of the story is smartly kept on the relationship between these two men, and that portion of the movie is honestly handled pretty nicely. While neither are the most engaging characters and the screenplay by David Williamson doesn’t do a fantastic job at creating an in-depth backstory for either of them, it does have solid pacing, very natural chemistry between the two actors, and a vibe that feels faintly authentic. While the portion within the trenches does feel a little more fabricated and expected that you’d like it to, the stuff before they go to war honestly isn’t that bad despite being a little blandly written, and that comes from the directing adding a humble and even enjoyable honesty to the film that while not blatant and can hide some of the true harshness of the situation, does a good job creating a liveable environment. Both Australia and Cairo feel like real places from how they look, to how they sound, to even how the people act and react, they contain little details that don’t add a lot to the film but feel natural to the places they’re replicating. While this is appreciated, the final act of the film isn’t as engaging as it honestly should be (especially given how the film literally ends on a ticking time bomb) and most of the war-related stuff feels poorly done and not different enough from other war films that have told the same set-up much better several years prior.

A war story can have all the planning, combat, and bloodshed that it wants, but the centre of these films usually has to be the people and how they are reacting to these situations as without them, they can feel very hollow and even a little distasteful, and thankfully this movie knows that. Ironically, the movie doesn’t even feel that much like a war film for its whole running time as the war zone isn’t even shown until the last act of the film (even though it’s literally called Gallipoli), and the focus is more on the connection between these two friends and how the war affects that. Even though the relationship isn’t that deep and as previously stated, neither is that deep a character or have very complex reasoning for doing what they do (one wants to do it just because, the other doesn’t want to do it just because), both Mark Lee and Mel Gibson are pretty good in this and you really buy the close friendship between these two due to how well they work off each other. With that said, the film spends so much of its time focusing on these two that it doesn’t really allow any other character the chance to stand out, not helped out by the script not really giving any other character anything to work with outside of a blank role that would be in any other war film. Some stand out enough like Bill Kerr as Archy’s uncle Jack who despite his small screen time, does deliver a memorable performance, and Bill Hunter as a sympathetic Australian major within the trenches who does enough with very little, but that’s not the case for the rest of the cast. Robert Grubb, Tim McKenzie and David Argue play throwaway soldiers who feel so secondary and bland that you don’t even really care when they are forced into battle and come out ruined on the other side, John Morris as the British Colonel is played so overtly stereotypical that it never once feels authentic (they give him the monocle and everything, it’s pretty stupid) and the film is surprisingly sparse on remaining cast members (probably due to the small budget), so the movie also feels quite small in scale.

Even though the film has such a minimal budget of only about $2.8 million (which was still at the time the highest budgeted Australian film), it doesn’t really suffer from that and is even able to still get some nice visuals out of it. It is a film that does feel a little small as there are no big shots that show off the environments very well and even the cast and story don’t feel particularly big, but for what they did have, it feels like they used it well and it still results in the film having a nice look to it. Most of the film was shot on location whether in Australia or even in Egypt so it adds that extra element of believability to the film and makes those locations feel very real. Whether it’s the packed, noisy yet cheerful fairgrounds of Australia or the cramped, populated streets of Cairo, they are handled quite well, and that can also be said for the personality of the film. This movie was credited quite a bit for its execution of the Australian identity, and this feels like a very Australian film in a way that doesn’t feel like it falls into the camp of being overly delivered and playing up a cinematic persona (like what Crocodile Dundee did). The people talk with strong accents, but not to a comical level, there’s no noticeable jargon that would feel out of place, even the areas the film showcases are a mix between traditional bush land and typical suburban cityscapes, it’s a nice delivery in that regard. The music for this film is a little bizarre upon first hearing it because it has a strong synth quality to it (a clear sign that this film was made in the 80s). While definitely not a bad score from Brian May and features a nice sound to it, it does feel a little weird given the kind of movie that it is, but at least it knows not to play during the war portions as they would’ve been particularly off-putting.

Gallipoli is a fairly standard war film that is told pretty nicely, but it’s hard to compare it to others that came before and even after it that did things a little more interesting. The most noticeable quality about this film is that it told the ANZAC story from an Australian perspective, but what good is that when the most enjoyable Australian quality is outside of the trenches, and the stuff that is featured in there is mostly made up (it seems like a good chunk of the blame for the Nek failure would go to two Australian commanding officers, so that’s a little backwards given the film’s perspective). For what it is, it’s perfectly fine and even has a few nice qualities like its solid cast and nice look despite the small budget, but there are several other war movies you can look at that can give you a lot more, and it would probably be better to just check those out first.