"Anzacs" (1985) TV mini-series

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

Pino Amenta
John Dixon

Writers:

John Clarke (written by)
John Dixon (writer)

Release Date:

27 October 1985 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | History | War

Plot:

Following the lives of a dozen Australian soldiers who served in the Australia and New Zealand Army...

Plot Keywords:

Gallipoli | Sergeant | WWI | TV Mini-Series | Army Life

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Andrew Clarke	...	Cpl. Martin Barrington
Paul Hogan	...	Pvt. Pat Cleary
Megan Williams	...	Nurse Kate Baker
Mark Hembrow	...	Pvt. Dick Baker
Jon Blake	...	Pvt. Flanagan
Christopher Cummins	...	Pvt. Roly Collins
Tony Bonner	...	Lt. Harold Armstrong
Shane Briant	...	Sgt. Wilhelm 'Kaiser' Schmidt
Alec Wilson	...	Sgt. Alec 'Pudden' Parsons
Patrick Ward	...	Sgt. Tom McArthur
Jonathan Sweet	...	C.S.M. Bill Harris
Peter Finlay	...	L.C.P.T. Bluey
Jim Holt	...	Pvt. 'Dingo Gordon
David Bradshaw	...	Keith Murdoch
Edmund Pegge	...	Captain Young

Also Known As:

Anzacs: The War Down Under

Runtime:

100 min (5 episodes) | USA:165 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Burrowes-Dixon Company

Quotes:

Pvt. Roly Collins: What's going on, Pat?
Pvt. Pat Cleary: [sarcastically] It's the great war - it's in all the papers.

Interesting Aussie soaper...

This is an interesting chronicle of the ANZACs, the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

One reason my fellow reviewer here might not have enjoyed this film is that it was created for an entirely different culture (Australia). To brand it as "bad" simply because it isn't American is patently unfair.

This made-for-TV production is really aimed squarely at the Australian audience, who still revere the memory of the ANZACs, the troops who suffered horrendous losses at Gallipoli in WWI. The heroism of the ANZACs, who fought so bravely and with such determination, was such that the Turkish enemy erected a monument to them.

While it is true that the film (culled from a five-part mini-series), is not riveting entertainment compared to something like "Centennial" or "War and Rememberance", it does outline the feelings, views, and politics of the day faced by the ANZAC forces.

The Australian and New Zealand viewpoints of the Great War are rarely on display, and here we have all of the various sentiments played out before us. The overall feeling (still is tangible today), is that the incompetence and arrogance of British officers (under whom the ANZAC force operated), were directly responsible for the waste of lives in pointless charges against the heavily entrenched Turkish forces.

The mini-series is positively anti-colonial in regards to the portrayal of the British as uncaring, and more interested in saving British lives than that of the Aussies or New Zealanders.

Paul Hogan will most likely be the only familliar face for American viewers. I would recommend the Mel Gibson film "Gallipoli" for those looking for a familliar cast and a relatively big budget look. That film also has more weight to it, and is more stylized.

While "ANZACs" does come off as a bit like "light drama", or perhaps almost a glorified soap opera, if someone is interested in the topic of WWI, and the Australian and New Zealand participation in particular, the mini-series is worth a viewing. For scholars studying the events in this theater of the war, is a must see to examine both the attitudes of the day, and at the time the mini-series was made.