Peter Weir's devastating anti-war film features a low-key but emotionally wrenching performance from Mel Gibson as a young soldier fighting in one of World War I's most deadly and horrifying battles.
Peter Weir's devastating anti-war film features a low-key but emotionally wrenching performance from Mel Gibson as a young soldier fighting in one of World War I's most deadly and horrifying battles.
The first of two consecutive films to see director Peter Weir team with Mel Gibson (the other being The Year of Living Dangerously), Gallipoli follows two idealistic young friends, Frank (Gibson) and Archy (Mark Lee), who join the Australian army during World War I and fight the doomed Battle of Gallipoli in Turkey. The first half of the film documents the lives of the young men in Australia, detailing their personalities and beliefs. The second half of the movie chronicles the ill-fated and
ill-planned battle, where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps is hopelessly outmatched by the enemy forces. Gallipoli was the recipient of eight prizes at the 1981 Australian Film Institute Awards. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
Weir's work has a delicacy, gentleness, even wispiness that would seem not well suited to the subject. And yet his film has an uncommon beauty, warmth, and immediacy, and a touch of the mysterious, too.
Set in 1915, Weir's excellent anti-war film centers on the disastrous battle of Gallipoli, featuring an excellent performance by Mel Gibson as a young fleet-footed soldier
... deflated the romantic notions of glory under fire to show the reality of Gallipoli and mourn the men who gave up their lives for a war they had no stake in.
Both a fitting testimony to the courage of the thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who died fighting for their country and one of the most powerful cinematic examinations of the futility and tragic cost of war.
Weir goes so far in humanizing Archy and Frank before they head off to the dehumanizing crucible of combat that he commits the greatest sin of all... he's boring
Fantastic Australian story of two champion runners who volunteer as soldiers in 1915 to see the worlds.The result is thrilling and amusing, thanks to the script from playwright David Williamson. Themes of mateship, sports and class warfare cleverly thread the glorious landscape shots.Really sad for losing one of
soldiers through the shoot-out war at the ending.
January 3, 2007
Dean McKenna
Super Reviewer
One of the greatest Australian films ever made. Full review later.
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