Gallipoli by Mike Mitchell

Title/Year : Gallipoli/1981
Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Peter Weir/Australia/1944
Budget: $2.6 million
Gross: $11,740,000 Australian 
Synopsis: Two Australian sprinters become friends and join the Australian Imperial Force expecting to travel the world and fight for their country but are soon exposed to the truth about war.
Political/ Social Commentary: Attitude of Australians toward the British, the importance of bringing the fight to the enemy so the fight doesn't come to them.
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Running, sand, horse riding, friendship, heritage, Egypt, pro-war
Main Character/Arc: Archy Hamilton/Frank Dunne. Archy is cheerful and passionate about serving his country, so much so that he volunteers Frank as the message runner so he can be on the front line. Frank starts out as a cynic who has no interest in getting involved in the war but Archy eventually convinces him to enlist.
Notable Collaboration: Writer David Williamson makes a cameo as one of the football players in Egypt. 
Historical relevance/recognition:  At the time was the most expensive Australian film ever produced, but payed off as it helped elevate the reputation of the Australian film industry. It was a spring board for Mel Gibson's international career.
Etc.: Due to the popularity of the Gallipoli battlefields as a tourist destination, this film is shown nightly in a number of hostels and hotels in several towns on the peninsula. 

1. Evidence of ineffective military leadership shows up on the day the Light Horse are to charge the Nek as a diversion for the British to land at Suvla Bay. They planned to have an artillery bombardment at 4:30 AM take out the Turkish machine gunners but the commanders watches become unsynchronized and it ends several minutes before it's supposed to. Colonel Robinson wants to proceed with the plan and the first wave gets mowed down like a hot knife through butter by the machine gunners. Major Barton realizes this and advises Robinson to stop sending their men to their deaths but someone told Robinson they saw a marker in the Turkish trenches so he doesn't listen and throws more bodies at the gunners. When the phone lines go down Frank is the only voice of reason left, which nobody listens to, so he rushes to General Gardner's camp on the beach. Gardner tells Frank he is reconsidering the plan and Frank bolts back to the trenches but is just seconds too late to stop Robinson from sending out a third wave of bringing-a-knife-to-a-gunfight soldiers whom Archy is among.

2. Most of the characters we actually get to know at all have some sort of sense of honor and/or duty that are pretty strong up through the charge at the Nek. Archy primarily is compelled to join mostly out of the sense of needing to become a man by serving his country. Others, however less noble they may be, still appear to operate by such a code.

3. All the scenes at the training camp in Egypt seemed to be kind of over exaggerated to me. Even during the training exercises there were a lot of people laughing and looking like they were having fun, Archy and Frank seem perpetually drunk and all our main characters seem to do is walk around Cairo looking for trouble. Although this does serve to really drive home the tonal shift when they are all sent out to the trenches for real.

4. Both the Germans and the Turkish are alluded to being pretty terrible but once we actually encounter the Turkish they don't seem like that much of a threat. Sure, they have big guns and some higher ground but that's about it really. A few of them are even seen playing a target practice game with some of the AIF guys.