Amazon.com essential video: An outstanding drama, Gallipoli resonates with sadness long after you have seen it. Set during World War I, this brutally honest antiwar movie was cowritten by director Peter Weir. Mark Lee and a sinfully handsome Mel Gibson are young, idealistic best friends who put aside their hopes and dreams when they join the war effort. This character study follows them as they enlist and are sent to Gallipoli to fight the Turks. The first half of the film is devoted to their lives and their strong friendship. The second half details the doomed war efforts of the Aussies, who are no match for the powerful and aggressive Turkish army. Because the script pulls us into their lives and forces us to care for these young men, we are devastated by their fate. --Rochelle O'Gorman
More powerful than ever. As I write this after rewatching the movie, I'm listening to Liam Clancy's wonderful version of Eric Bogle's heartbreaking "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda." There is nothing I can add to those wonderful postings by others before me except to agree that this picture should be rereleased to the general public and shown in history classes. It might wake up young Americans to the disaster in Iraq -- another senseless war with little planning and forethought and disastrous consequences with tens of thousands dead, wounded, maimed and irreparably damaged.
A companion piece should be "A Bridge Too Far," Richard Attenborough's all-star film about Operation Market Garden, a scheme to put an early end to WWII which failed. Eisenhower gave in to Montgomery and the result was a disaster in which the Allies tried to take five bridges and had more casualties than the Normandy invasion. Seems nothing changes. Gallipoli made not a dent in politicans and military men's minds. Another brilliant film.
Excellent Film About A Tragic Epsiode in History The battle of Gallipoli is one of the more horrible episodes of the First World War. Australian and New Zealand forces were slaughtered by the Turkish troops in a bloody afair that has been celebrated in song "Waltzing Matilda" and in a National holiday in Australia.
This film follows a group of young Australian men who enlist and find themselves in this horrific scene. The majority of the film deals with the pre-battle establishment of who these guys are and allows for the viewer to begin to appreciate their characters before the final segment which is set during the battle itself.
The movie is really well done. Beautifully filmed ,well written and acted with outstanding performances including one from a very young looking Mel Gibson.
Ultimately this is a testiment to the absolute futilty of war and the sacrifice of young lives for what later turn out to be meaningless objectives. What I like is that the movie is not preachy or overtly anti-war, it just allows the images to speak for themselves.
monument to incompetence I have no idea how historically accurate this film is, but if it's close to right, then thanks go to Peter Weir for telling the story of these brave young men. Their nation wanted to do the right thing, but wasn't prepared. In their idealistic and over-zealous response to a perceived threat, they wasted many lives. Every military officer should have to watch this. In OCS I learned that "soldiers die tired and confused." May we not die due to incompetence, but only by the inherent risks of waging war. Since war will always be the final means of preserving freedom, it is our duty to stay prepared and proficient.
Idealism and youth destroyed by war Weir is a master when it comes to exploring human behavior and relationships in a confined space or rare situation, and this film is a fine example. Two young men, both runners, become friends who go off to war with the idea of defeating the Germans in WWI, but end up in the trenches fighting the Turks with virtually no way to win or even to stay alive. A horrifying yet necessary reminder of the way we keep sending young people off to die on foreign soil, for whatever cause.
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