Gallipoli
Perhaps no war before or since World War I has provided a better backdrop to relay themes of youth and friendship wasted in battle. By the time it got underway in 1914, advances in weaponry (most notably machine guns, artillery and chemical weapons) had unwittingly converted the trench-style warfare of the late 19th century into massacres of epic proportion on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Entire generations of young men in towns and villages from Canada to New Zealand were wiped out completely. In 1915, an attempt by the British to capture Constantinople from the Ottoman Empire via the Gallipoli peninsula became one of the most mismanaged operations of the war, and the almost year-long campaign principally involved ANZAC forces (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps).
That's the backdrop for Peter Weir's powerful film, the first half of which takes place literally half a world away in Western Australia, where two sprinting champions become friends and the older one tries to talk the younger, underage one out of enlisting and gets talked into it instead. The bond these two young men form is emblematic of a camaraderie so strong it overcomes fear of certain death, which they soon realize is what they face after arriving on the shores of Turkey. Mel Gibson (proving himself a real actor on the heels of his star-making turn in Mad Max) and Mark Lee make a likeable duo—Gibson as Frank Dunne, the slightly older of the two, whose cynicism is worn down by Archy's boundless youth and enthusiasm.
Weir, meanwhile, makes wonderful use of his native Australian landscape (parts of the southern coast doubled for the Turkish beach and cliffs), and his trademark preference for established classical music pieces works brilliantly. He eschews the shock visuals a bloodbath like WWI proffers, but there's still plenty to wince at. By the time Archy and Frank prepare for action in the Battle of the Nek (a bungled attack which resulted in unthinkable carnage), we know a journey embarked on the impulse of a great adventure is about meet a tragic end with deeply emotional consequences.
I don't know how this movie slipped through the cracks for me over the last 25 years, especially considering that Weir is one of my favorite filmmakers, but the remastered 2005 special edition DVD proved well worth the wait. A masterwork in the tradition of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957), Gallipoli deserves a place of honor alongside these hallmark WWI anti-war films.
- February 19, 2007
DVD Extras
A superb six-part documentary featuring all the principals involved, which chronicles the making of the film and the real Gallipoli campaign (a separate history of the battle would have been nice); theatrical trailer; Paramount loses points for wasting space with a worthless promo for John Wayne DVDs.