Delayed Reaction: Gallipoli

Premise: Australian friends join the army to fight in World War I and end up part of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

In preparation for 1917, I wanted to immerse myself a little more in WWI. The movie selection is sparse. Luckily there is this early Mel Gibson movie that I'd been meaning to get to anyway. I've read one book about WWI, so I consider myself an expert on the subject. The Gallipoli campaign is a pretty huge British failure in the war. Gallipoli is located along the Dardanelles, which essentially connect the Black season to the Mediterranean. It's an key strategic location that the British wanted. So, they sent a lot of troops there to get control from the Ottomans. A large portion of the troops were from Australia and New Zealand. After 8 months, ~250,000 troops on both sides combined had died and the British had to retreat. This is a big deal in Australian and New Zealand (New Zealish? New Zealot? New Zealandi?) history, often cited as the beginning of their national consciousness.

This movie doesn't quite capture the gravity of all that. Mostly, it's about a runner (Mark Lee) and his friend (Mel Gibson) joining the fight for a variety of reasons. They are split up after Gibson can't earn a spot in the cavalry division. Eventually, they do meet back up on Gallipoli. The tragic end is the best and most memorable part of the movie. Having seen 1917 now, I can't help but notice the similarities. 1917 is a much grander movie, but I liked Gallipoli too. I don't see war movies made in this style as much these days. It moves at a surprisingly casual pace. They don't even show up in Gallipoli until more than halfway through the movie. I tend to forget about Gibson's non-Mad Max, non-Lethal Weapon 80s movies, so this was a nice reminder of his other work.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend