GALLIPOLI Movie Review

Frank (Mel Gibson) and Archy (Bill Kerr) are friends who enlist in the Australian military in World War I. After a period of training together in Egypt, the two men become fodder in the battle between Australia and the German-allied Turks. This large scale recreation of the catastrophic battle of Gallipoli was staged by Australia's Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Truman Show) and is clearly intended as a powerful anti-war statement. Those sentiments certainly get through, but much of the film is nevertheless filler, demonstrating in unconvincing detail the friendship of these two athletes in order that we may be all the more devastated by the final outcome. Trouble is, their friendship is unspontaneous and stereotypical, as is the long Egyptian training sequence at the film's center. The final battle scenes are magnificently designed and staged with stunning, widescreen images, but as impressive as Gallipoli is both visually and as a concept, its ultimate impact is disappointingly muted. The film's superb score is by Brian May.

NEXT STOP… Paths of Glory, Full Metal Jacket, The Year of Living Dangerously

1981 (PG) 111m/C AU Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, David Argue, Tim McKenzie, Robert Grubb; D: Peter Weir; W: David Williamson, Peter Weir; C: Russell Boyd; M: Brian May. Australian Film Institute '81: Best Actor (Gibson), Best Film. VHS, LV PAR