One of my all time favorites.

Great Film overall

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Gallipoli was one of the most ambitious and tragic events and outcomes that ultimately shaped WW1 as a whole, and shaped the whole Australian nation forever. Gallipoli the miniseries follows four young men: Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson (Kodi Smit-Mcphee), Bevan Johnson (Harry Greenwood), Cliff Sutton (Tom Budge) and Dave Klein (Sam Parsonson) as they are sent off to war to fight in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. Being an avid WW1 enthusiast myself, this show brings in everything right about what you should expect from a WW1 portrayal. You live through the entire campaign throughout the seven episodes, and follow the characters through the eyes of Tolly Johnson, the youngest out of the group. Before I delve into what's right about the series, let's just brush off some negatives. First of all, Tolly's background story. So at particular points throughout an episode the scene may flash-back to Tolly's home life, which usually involves Bevan's girlfriend, Celia. This has to be the worst part of the series, as the whole series of sequences in total feel out of place and unneeded. I'm guessing the short plot goes that Celia is starting to feel affection for Tolly while dating Bevan, but is trying to hide it from him. These 5 minute sequences don't amount to anything or build up to anything, they are just there, to create some sort of mood, but It takes away from the experience of the rest of the part of the episode. A very minor point are some little historical inaccuracies that are picky, but to save time, I'll only go through one. The first episode, 'The First Day', recites the infamous landings on ANZAC Cove, to which literally only several boats with a few dozen soldiers land, with more coming at sunrise. In reality, thousands of soldiers would of landed at the same beach that night. Ok done with the negatives. It's not just the four main characters that are centre point, you also follow the story of two more characters; Sir Ian Hamilton (John Bach) and Charles Bartlett (James Callis). Ian Hamilton was a senior British army officer who was in placed in charge as a general of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the campaign. During the show, the struggles and turmoil of the ANZAC Headquarters develop rapidly, and really capture what Gallipoli was really like, false and lack of communication, heated debate, and Hamilton's personal struggles as well. Charles Bartlett, a well known journalist during the campaign, has a very strong presence all throughout the show, sort of acting as a slight comic relief, but not overdone or placed in the wrong time. The show even manages to recite famous quotes from the actual time period from characters. Episode 5, 'The Breakout', is by far the best episode of the series, retelling the horrific events at The Nek, a narrow stretch of ridge among the peninsula. The 8th, 9th, and 10th Light Horse regiments were set up among the ridge, expecting to take and hold the strip of land. This is truly saddening, as the failed bombardments among with the massacre of hundreds of soldiers in the span of 5 minutes as they are forced over the top really gives a sense of hopelessness and intense fear, as you can see the soldiers' faces as they witness men being mowed down, wave after wave. This aspect of showing war is what it is always should be like. There are no heroic moments, no honourable and brave sacrifices, no incredible fantasy breakthroughs, it's gritty and horrifying, and it's not boring in any sense, it just shows it how the Great War was: hell.

As a devoted history reader, I also try to follow such shows, films, and series because I just wanna feel that "connection".This production is far from the best historical adaptation but as a great-grandson of a Turkish martyr that fell on Gallipoli, I must admit I felt more than just a simple "connection". It honestly brought tears to my eyes at a certain point.True, the character development is a little off. True, many moments from the show might seem cliché. Also, I don't know about all the actors but the Turkish speakers had to work on their pronunciations a little bit more.But to see an Australian production that shows the Turks the respect that we have shown to them is just a sign of a beautiful thing in my opinion. Sure, some moments felt off, definitely. All things considered, I find this show beautiful, touching, brutally honest about some aspects of the war. For the people who think about watching the show, I can only say that if you're looking for "Saving Private Ryan: WWI Version", you won't find it in this show. This is different. Really different. It definitely is worth a shot.

I was really looking forward to this release, however I found myself struggling through each episode, with the hope that the next episode would redeem the series, however the next episode was filled with the same drab dialogue and flat story line. The Drama was slow and the action scenes seemed to be over before they began. Frankly the story line seemed to struggle from episode to episode and the characters seemed stale, lacked substance and were hard to connect with and relate too. The show falls far from the mark when compared to others of its genre such as Anzacs (1985). To me it felt like a cheap and poorly written version of the thin red line.

It brings to home the tragedy and futility of Gallipoli. Four Aussie men from our ancestor families fought at Gallipoli. One man from Orange NSW was injured on landing on the 25th April - witnesses said it looked like his neck was severed, he survived after 30 days in hospital, he was in the 2nd battalion, later wounded on the 7th August at the battle of Lone Pine sadly he died on the 9th buried at sea from the Delta along with his commanding officer.His cousin, also born in Orange NSW, was a Sergeant Farrier in the 4th Field Ambulance, he would have witnessed the shocking injuries of the Anzacs. Perhaps he was able to comfort his younger cousin? Two brothers from Leichardt Sydney NSW, 2nd battalion reinforcements, survived Gallipoli but died later in France and Belgium. I see their faces in this film. The realty and emotion is overwhelming almost too difficult watch. But so well done.