Academia de Herois

This film is rarely shown, but is available on video if you hunt around. It is a minor classic and stars a young Bryan Brown and a Graham Kennedy before his crow imitating newsreader days.

Whether it portrays the SAS realistically is a moot point, but this was the Australian SAS in the late sixties/early seventies and reference to Australian Books such as the "Phantoms of the Jungle", suggest that the Swanbourne troops went through Vietnam in the way portrayed.

The film is worth watching not for the overdone anti-war message but the black humour and jokes. The presentation of the shoebox contraption to the pardre is worth watching in itself.

This was Australia's only film about our involvement the Vietnam War until 2012, when The Sapphires appeared, followed by Danger Close in 2019.

Made in 1979, it follows a group of conscripts from Sydney to the Mekong Delta and watches them patrol, drink beer, engage the enemy, drink more beer, gamble, grumble, gambol, drink, watch friends die, and occasionally wonder what it's all for.

Though the cast includes famous names such as Bryan Brown, John Hargeaves, John Jarratt and Graeme Blundell, it is comedian Graham Kennedy who steals the show as the wisecracking NCO on his second tour. He provides the MASH-type quips as well as thoughtful commentary on the war.

Overall, the script is a bit obvious and the action sequences are a bit on the low-budget side (with quite a few locations looking distinctly Australian and a few too many gum trees).

The movie pales in comparison with American depictions of the war, with neither the wit of MASH (ostensibly set in the Korean War, but with much to say on America's involvement in Vietnam as well) nor the powerful criticism of Apocalypse Now nor the grit of Platoon.

However, the movie does have its moments: it captures the distinctly Australian mateship element of our soldiers and provides our only cinematic depiction of this important event which divided Australian society in the 1960s and 1970s. As such it is well worth seeing, despite its limitations.

A few Australians have already written on this site praising the film for its portrayal of the Australian SAS in Vietnam and commented at length about the scope of the film. I would like to comment about the accurate way the military operations are portrayed. I served in the US Army in the 101st Airborne Division's elite LRSD (Long Range Surveillance Detatchment)where this film was one of our favorites. It was, and still is, the only film we had ever seen that realisticly showed what long range recon patrols are like; slow, concealed, quiet, and sometimes fruitless small team patrols made up of professional soldiers. We were also impressed that the film showed the part of all patrols that movies never show, the planning phase where the operation order is given and reviewed, mission essential equipment is meted out, maps are studied, radio frequencies and callsigns are memorized, and all questions are asked. The film shows the unglamorous and sometimes dull side of special warfare, but is still a must for anyone interested in special operations units that wants to see what it's all about.

On recent viewing, I have been surprised by how well the film reflected upon individual Australians' involvement in The Vietnam War. It also, through a couple of monologues from old hand, Graham Kennedy, dispassionately reflected upon the ultimate futility of Australia's involvement. Perhaps its greatest strength was documenting the Australian male character of the times without reverting to a "lovable larrikins" approach. The battle scenes are done without heroics or dramatics. There is a matter of factness about the activities and reactions of the unit that makes them seem all the more realistic.The boredom, routines and irritations of jungle warfare are there as well as the odd angry shot that punctuates guerilla warfare. Loved the low-key ending which resisted taking aim at the unjust treatment of the returning vets but did reflect their estrangement as a presentiment of their future problems in readjusting.

I first saw this film on tv It captures for me the feeling of Vietnam soldiers who dont want to be in a war dont know what the war is even about.

It took me years of seaching till I found a copy on VHS which think is nearly worn out. Thought provoking sad and funny the great line "Bugger all" whilst seaching the temple is totally unforgettable to me.