Gallipoli - Did the Film Makers Twist History to Market a Myth?

Gallipoli - Did the film makers twist history to market a myth?

When Germany declared war on France on the 3rd of July 1914 and Great Britain declared on Germany at the same time, who would have thought Australia, a nation who only federated in 1901 would be among a World War, and more specifically the Gallipoli campaign. The film Gallipoli by Peter Weir focuses on the ANZAC spirit and the coming of the First World War and the effect on Australia. The movie focuses on those positive values that come along with the Anzac legend which include those of mateship, courage, discipline and endurance. Although the average Australia viewer would consider the above values convey through the film to be totally accurate, it can be question whether the film maker has twisted history in order to market the myth of the ANZAC legend. If in fact Weir has twisted history to some extent, I will anaylse to what extent some aspect of the ANZAC legend differs from the actual events of the Gallipoli campaign in the year of 1915.

The first section of the film focuses on the Australian lifestyle and the initial enthusiastic response to the outbreak of war. As Australia a colony of the British Empire, they really had no choice but to follow the Ð''mother' country, on the streets of Australia enthusiasm was clearly evident, however this was expected as 95% of the population of 5 million were born in Great Britain, however the only real objection to war was from them with Irish backgrounds. The film shows Frank (Mel Gibson) along with his mates working on the railway tracks in terrible conditions with a little to look forward to in life. When they learnt of the outbreak of war, through the newspaper with such topics that exposed the evil nature of the Turks, they were keen to join. As it is well known this was typical propaganda used by the government to build the initial enthusiasm towards war, and build the mind frame that enlisting in the army would solve money problems for some time, act in some ways as an adventure. The working conditions for these railway workers were magnified by the film to strengthen the idea that enlisting was a great idea, and it wasn't mainly government propaganda at the time. The encouragement was also seen through the character of Snowy who was quoted as saying, "I'm not scared of dieing for my country" this showed the British Australian support for the motherland and the national pride that was beginning to grow within the new country.

The clearest opposition to war was those from left wing groups and those of Irish decent, however this emphasis was nullified within the film, this was to show that Australia as a whole was enthusiastic to war and the government could not be held somewhat responsible for the propaganda they presented to the residents of Australia. Frank Dunne, an Australian of Irish background was not at all keen to defend the British the event in Dublin, this built clear hatred towards Britain. Another opposing ground of the First World War was the left wing, Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) or the Ð''Wobblies' as they were known in Australia condemned Australia's involvement to be a capitalist plot. The film only showed small objection to the war, which in a sense was fair representation of the events leading to the Gallipoli campaign.

By December 1914, 30000 soldiers were in uniform all through voluntary enlistment. In these early stages of the war, where the mind set was that "the war would be over by Christmas" the soldiers accepted were those of physical superiority. This was seen when Snowy went for his medical and they were going to reject him for bad teeth and he said "Are we going to bite them?" Most of these voluntary enlistments were given a few months training outside of main cities, where most found the high levels of discipline hard to abide by. The Australian and New Zealand soldiers were mainly trained in the town of Cairo in Egypt. This came about when one of the ships Sydney sunk German battleship Emden, and turned to Egypt. When they arrived in February 1915 the name of the ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) was coined.

This aspect of training and general living in Egypt was of high focus in the film. Frank and his mates spent their free time near the pyramids drinking, visiting brothels, playing the sport of Australian Rules football and been ripped off by street merchants as they compared prices. The Australian soldier in the training stage in Cairo was conveyed to have such characteristics of lack of respect towards Generals and to be generally ill mannered in all aspects which were seen through the clear racism towards the Egyptians. A specific example of the lack of respect was when Australian troops would fail to salute British generals, and dress in contrast to the British who were presented well. This aspect of the movie would be the most accurate representation to what actually happened in the lead up to Gallipoli. It is said that Australians were exposed to be ill disciplined, vandals and racist, attributes that were never mention in the way we see our Anzac's today. Ringleaders of these attacks were jailed and sent back to Australia, as a disgrace to the nation. This posed the question whether Australian's would be disciplined enough to be a soldier after the larrikin attitude they showed most of the time.

As the training came to an end in Egypt, the Australian troops head to the Lemnos Islands some 95kms away from the Turkish Dardanelles, but no one knew the Turks were more than ready. The movie focuses on the battle of the Nek where Australia is to act as a diversion so the British forces can land in Suvla. The battle of Lone Pine in not shown in the movie however the viewer is positioned to imply that the fighting occurred, involving Frank's infantry mates. The final stages which show the battle scenes where Frank is the runner for Commander Barton, it focuses on the 8th and 10th Light Horse attempted attack in three separate lines against heavy machine guns. The British Colonel insists the attacks go again to cause the diversion for the British. The attack was out of time, and some seven minutes late the first wave of troops run with bayonets. Barton insists the attack is stopped, however Robinson implies they must go on at any cost. As the phone lines cut out Frank has to work hard to relay messages. This leaves the last row including Archie to go, just as Frank arrives Archie heads for his last sprint towards the Turks armed with guns. He along with all soldiers do not survive. Some aspects of this portrayal of the fighting are accurate while other parts have been deeply twisted. It was never really mentioned that the Anzacs had landed some 200 metres

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