Winston Churchill was a great statesman, but also an accomplished writer, which can be seen by Nobel Prize for Literature, awarded for his epic book of memoirs The Second World War. Churchill had good reason to write that book and in it he tried to explain why many British and Allied defeats in the first years of the war were anyone’s fault but Churchill’s. British statesman has done the same few decades earlier with First World War in his book World Crisis, especially in chapters describing his ill-fated attempt to quickly finish the war with a spectacular amphibious landing in Turkey. The operation, later known as Gallipoli Campaign, turned into miserable failure costing thousands of Allied lives. Many of those lives were Australian, and the carnage, often blamed on incompetence of their British superiors, played large part in creation of modern Australian national identity. Such seminal event was covered in Gallipoli, 1981 war epic directed by Peter Weir, one of the best known Australian films ever made.
The plot begins in May 1915, shortly after the landings that began the campaign. In Western Australia, far away from the war, two young men and accomplished sprint runners – stockman Archy Hamilton (played by Mark Lee) and unemployed railway worker Frank Dunne (played by Mel Gibson) – are competing at the athletic meet. Despite their rivalry, they quickly strike friendship and decide to travel to Perth, where they would join Australian Light Horse units that would about to go to Galipolli. Archy is an idealist who does it for patriotic reasons, while Frank sees the war as an adventure and escape from monotony. Unlike Archy, Frank doesn’t know how to ride to horse so he is forced to enlist in infantry units. Friends are reunited in Egypt, during the training, when Major Barton (played by Bill Hunter), one of Light Horse officers, recognises that he would need two instead of one runner, so he allows Frank to join his unit. When Archy and Frank finally arrive at Allied beachhead, their illusions about war as heroic adventure are shattered. They witness their comrades being killed and wounded in suicidal charges against heavily fortified Turkish position known as “the Nek”.
Peter Weir is known as one of the greatest authors of Australian New Wave. His immense talent is quite evident in Gallipoli, which is directed with great skill and style worthy of epics. Cinematographer Russell Boyd puts Australian and Egyptian locations (which includes Pyramids) to great use. Even more interesting is a script by David Williamson, which seems inspired by the way The Deer Hunter described the physical and psychological price of Vietnam War. Just like in that film, audience is introduced to the protagonists as normal, ordinary persons untouched by war and its horrors. Williamson and Weir go even farther than Cimino in The Deer Hunter. In their film the actual war is shown in relatively short segment at the end. Before that we have plenty of opportunity to know and like the protagonists, making the impact of the encounter with unimaginable horrors and sufferings at the end even stronger.
Weir has very good cast at his side. Mark Lee with his almost angelic looks played Archy as embodiment of idealism, virtue, self-sacrifice and virtues of the generation being tragically wasted in the trenches of First World War. Mel Gibson, then still early in his career and far from being international star, plays somewhat more complex, partially roguish character who might lack his friend’s noble ideals, but he nevertheless feels general empathy towards him and his comrades. Veteran character actor Bill Hunter is also great in the role of an officer who genuinely cares for troops and gets visibly upset when he is ordered to sacrifice them by his heartless, incompetent superiors. The only flaw of this film is the lack of conventional soundtrack, which wasn’t compensated in most fortunate way. While classic composition Adagio in G minor by Tomaso Albinoni works well in establishing general tone, electronic music from Oxygene by Jean-Michel Jarre sounds out of place and shatters stylistic consistency of the film.
Gallipoli was and still is criticised for historical inaccuracies, that could be explained by anti-British bias of many Australians, including media tycoon Rupert Murdoch who financed the film (and whose father Keith Murdoch became famous as reporter at Gallipoli). The film suggests that the infamous Battle of the Nek became slaughter for Australians because of incompetence and cowardice of the British, although most objective historical sources point to Australian officers in that particular instance being responsible for bloody debacle. That, however, doesn’t take away strong impact of this film which shows the tragic futility of war. With more films like these and with some luck future Churchills and their memoirs explaining their military blunders might not come to pass.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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