Backbencher

The movie Gallipoli was directed by Peter Weir, and it is about two mates who sign up for enlistment in the Great War for different reasons. Gibson plays Frank, a track runner and free spirit who basically joins the military out of boredom. He meets Archy at a track meet, they get seperated in the outback, and meet up again oversees. The movie was slow paced, but I believe it was made that way to really get to know the characters before the fighting. The battle was disastrous and the ending scene is full of symbolism and sadness. Definitely not Mel Gibsons best work, but it was one of his first movies. However, I really liked his performance in Mad Max which I believe was his first movie. Perhaps it was just the character he was portraying that rubbed me the wrong way. Gallipoli was one of Australia's most tragic events in the country's history. The movie showed the patriotism, fear, horror, honor, terror, and self-sacrifice that comes with war. The film definitly was anti-war. If the movie were to be remade it would be a lot better. In its day battlefield accuracy was really non-existant. Today movies like Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan give audiences a better view of what the horror of battle really looked like. Overall, I thought the movie was pretty good. Compared to some of the required class movies it was great. I thought the Australian cavalry uniforms looked pretty cool, and the cinematography and background shots were done very well. I believe the director's intent was to glorify and remember those men that sacrificed during the war, and to paint war as an evil, destructive force that hardly any good comes from.