Gallipoli

"Gallipoli" is a great little war film that is rarely mentioned, but one that can certainly stand up to the likes of "Saving Private Ryan" and movies of the big budget blockbuster kind. It tells the story of Archy (Mark Lee), a young Australian runner, and Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson), another runner. Both of them have great potential as runners, and they meet at a race where Archy beats Frank. Archy is running off to join World War I, and when it is revealed at the enlistment office that he is underage, Frank takes him to Perth to sign up there. Frank has no intention of joining the war, because he doesn't want to die for a cause that isn't really an Australian one. (An early Mel Gibson movie that takes an anti-British stance) Eventually he decides to join, and the rest of the story follows the two men in their various encounters throughout the war.

The story is well told, focusing on the development of the two main characters rather than battle sequences. The two contrast each other. Frank is worldly, and cynical, not ready to die for a foolish cause, while Archy is naive and idealistic. It is an excellent study the way the two personalities react to the war.

"Gallipoli" will rarely be mentioned in the same breath as most of the most famous war movies, but it is certainly one of the best at revealing the humanity that exists at the front lines. It is a well made film, and an extremely moving story.

I watched "Gallipoli" on a whim one night when it aired on TCM as part of a tribute to Australian cinema, and found it to be a moving film about the ultimate horror and waste of World War I.

Mark Lee and Mel Gibson play two young sprinters who meet as competitors, become friends, and then enlist together in the war. Not taking much seriously, they both think serving will be a bit of a lark, and indeed it begins that way, with a lot of carousing, drinking, whoring and some goofball antics during combat training. But then they arrive at their destination, and the reality of what war actually looks and sounds like begins to sink in.

This movie does a great job of showing that transition from young man bluster and naive belief in the good of a cause to scared everyman, being sent out to certain death for reasons he can no longer comprehend. The film is paced very well, and the trench warfare scenes at the film's end are so expertly juxtaposed with the buddy movie that precedes them, that the effect on the audience is that of a punch to the groin. The very end is devastating and haunting in a way few movies anymore would have the guts to be.

Peter Weir directed this before he became known for more popular and Oscar-baity films like "Witness" and "Dead Poets Society."

Grade: A

How much of Mel Gibson's success as a director does he owe to Peter Weir? He must have had a wonderful experience working with him on this movie. Perfect depiction of innocents at war - the young soldiers who didn't know how cruel the world (and their officers) could be. Has a better depiction of the Australian character ever been put on a screen? Screenplay by David Williamson is spot-on. (He is the "long streak of pelican s**t" who has to be "sorted out" while playing football near the Sphinx!) (viewed 10/16)

Once again, I've had the pleasure of showing this film to one of my College literature classes; we're studying the World War One poets of England, and this film shows my students in vivid detail what made this war so different from anything that had come before it. The world lost its innocence with "The Great War," and we are still reeling from the consequences a century later. Peter Weir's magnificent film follows the story of two best "mates" from the Australian outback and their sudden thrust into the realities of a new world order. Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, and a fine cast create the sense of brotherhood and horror that makes this film so profoundly moving. The last 20 minutes spares the audience no detail, and while more recent films like "Black Hawk Down" and "Saving Private Ryan" are perhaps more graphic, "Gallipoli" immerses us in the human loss more fully. In "Gallipoli" we get to know these friends in intimate detail, making the losses they suffer in the end truly gut wrenching. Five stars out of five stars.

There is not a lot wrong with this movie. The entire thing seems authentic - meaning you feel like you're in Australia in 1915. You are living on a farm, running in a race and ultimately in a war.

What is also very extraordinary is that there is not really a lot that happens, there is barely a plot. But it doesn't matter, because Peter Weir is a master storyteller. The actors are all superb and your heart may hurt at the climax - mine did.

Unforgettable, like all great movies.