Army Wives

The ultimate "Why did they bother?" telemovie! I saw this some decade or so ago during a lull in proceedings one night...sheesh, what a yawnfest!

A couple of friends marry army servicemen of vastly different ranks. This makes for a stressful relationship between the couple, but nowhere near the stress rate induced in the audience.

Certainly not badly acted, merely wearisome in the extreme!

As a member of the ADF during the time of the movie I found it very truthful as the wives of servicemen at the time were treated as 2nd class. I was always told that the Army came 1st and the way the Army wives were treated by the population at the time was atrocious - you must remember that it was set at the time of the Vietnam war and many were against the war and so took it out of the Army wives.who were subject to discrimination as they could not get a job where their husband was posted - the reason - you won't be here long enough - the posting were only for 2 years periods. I'd love to get a hold of a copy if someone knows how.

This is a pivotal film which not only exposed conditions for the wives of army personnel at the time, but caused the political upheaval which went a long way to improve conditions for these women.

Improving social conditions is just about the most noble function any film can hope to perform and this one has done it well.

Written, shot and performed by some great names in Oz drama, it works with a perfect economy of dialogue and visuals. It's hard not to empathise with the positions of every character, even the hard nosed antagonists.

I saw it today and even though it's been about 10 years since my previous viewing, the film has lost nothing and subsequent viewing reveals more and more.

A marvellous production given the budget those involved worked with, and direction that put me right in the frame with every character involved.

Anne Brooksbank has a deserved reputation for writing powerful, pivotal, pertinent Australian drama, and Army Wives is no exception.

Zig Zag