Plot
Set during World War I, we follow mining engineer Oliver Woodward (played by Brendan Cowell) Called away from beautiful sunny Queensland, and a burgeoning romance, Brendan is quickly put to work in the dark and horrible trenches to lead the 1st Australian Tunneling Company underneath a German bunker at the notorious Hill 60.
Before he can go back to his idealic life in Queensland with the girl he left behind (Marjorie, played by Bella Heathcote), Brendan must first lead his men through the dark horrors of Hell.
Review
The film’s score by Cezary Skubiszewski is great and the cinematography by Toby Oliver is fantastic. The visual landscape of the barracks, aided by CGI are convincing. I would have liked a little more visual ingenuity to fully realise the underground surroundings, to experience the cramped conditions and to have a clear, working-map of where everything lay, a la David Fincher’s Panic Room and Fight Club. This would help in fully exploiting the tension of the situation/s that the men find themselves in. As it is, I was not as involved in these key scenes as much as I would have liked.
One key scene of mention is when Oliver and two of his men make a night-time mission to detonate a German tower. This is by far the most enjoyable, suspense filled scene of the movie and works extremely well.
The atmosphere of comradeship and good-old fashioned digger, Aussie larrikin matehip is well captured here, both its positive and negative side. Brendan Cowell is especially good in this role; Brendan has a curious look that you can’t quite read, a slight amused look covers what is on his mind.
The acting is however uneven. We are treated to some great monologues describing certain minor characters motivations for joining the war, but then some other characters do not come across as convincing. This however may be due to the fact that the same actors have populated Australian screens for so long that Australian audiences will, unfairly, have difficulty accepting them in different roles. In this sense, along with some of the dinky-di-Aussie accents, some of the many characters were difficult to connect with.
Rating
A good solid effort is let down in part by uneven acting and a homage or completion of a theme in Gallipoli, the greatest Australian War movie. In this attempt, the emotional climax is lessened, even more so by a relatively poor CG money shot.
A solid 3 mining tunnels out of 5
Check out the film IMDB, see what Margaret and David have to say, and check out the trailer..
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Luke McWilliams September 2010
