How Good Of A Reflection Was Film, Gallipoli

Pre World War I Australia was undergoing an identity crisis. Australia had just become a federation in 1901, though their still divisions within the country from the states. Australia may have just become a separate colony from the British but it was still in a state of disunity. We still didn't really have any history to be proud of, so when war broke out in 1914, it was the perfect opportunity to come along as a nation.

Initially, the reaction from Australians to the war breaking out during August 1914 was a positive one. There was a rush to enlist in the armed forces, as there was the widespread belief that the war would be over by Christmas. Young Australian men rushed to enlist for various reasons. Most Australians had some sort of British background with around 95 % being born in Great Britain, so this provided a basis for their sentimental loyalty. The biggest reason however was that at the outbreak of the war there were plenty of young men out of work, hungry and homeless. The war provided not only an opportunity to be clothed, fed and paid for a length of time but also gave these men the prospect of going overseas on what was perceived to be an adventure. Enlistment had been so popular in fact that the army had to turn down men and only accepted the best recruits. By the time December came 417 000 men had enlisted and 30 000 men were already in uniform.

The film captures the sentiment of Australians quite well, in the period leading up to the war. Gibson and his mates are well representative of young Australians during the early 1910's. They were railway workers, who lived by the side of the tracks in appalling conditions, with very little future ahead of them. At first they are enticed to go to war by the newspaper, which report on the evils committed by the Turkish troops. This would just have been another example of the media and governments propaganda in trying to get support for the war, and the film demonstrates how successful it was, with a sense of nationalism coming from the railway workers after reading the article who immediately were wanting to join the war effort. The blonde worker Snow who proudly says Ð''Well I'm not scared to die for my country' puts across this sense. It is feelings like these that would've been felt all round Australia at the outbreak of the war, an enthusiasm to fight to defend Australia. The older railway worker then asks the question Ð''Could anything be worse than this here.' It is comments like these that demonstrate how naÐ"Їve young Australians were at the time. There poor living conditions made fighting abroad look attractive, when really they had no idea what they were in for.

There were hints of the opposition to the war in the film. Gibson's Irish father fails to support his son going to war, fighting for the British Empire. The Irish contingent of Australia was against the war for this reason. These feelings had come from the actions of the British during 1916, at the Easter Rising in Dublin. The British had received widespread condemnation for their execution of 12 of the rising's leaders, and the result was anti-British stirrings throughout the Irish community. The film fails to recognise the other minority groups who were opposed to the war. The Industrial Worker's of the World voiced their opposition to the war, however the film is accurate in that there was very little opposition to the war.

Most of the training for the war was undertaken in England, however the training camps for the Australian and New Zealand troops took place in the deserts of Cairo. It was in Cairo that the ANZAC was coined. For many of the young men they had never been overseas before so the trip to Cairo was seen more as an adventure rather than a training exercise. This is shown through the actions of the ANZAC's in Cairo. The troops were easily bored by the drills which due to a lack of discipline led to rioting and when released in to Cairo, vandalism and racism towards the Egyptian people. Some of the incidents were so bad that the participating troops were gaoled and were sent home. The training camps were where it initially became evident the disregard for authority. Army discipline was difficult to comprehend for many and it was not uncommon for the troops the abuse the officers.

The film chooses to Ð''gloss over' the incidents in Egypt. The ill discipline of the Australian's in particular is portrayed more as Aussie larrikinism. In the film the foreigners, mainly Egyptian are portrayed as second-class citizens. The qualities that are associated them are beggars, and thieves. When the Anzac's are shown interacting with the Egyptians, the Egyptians are always seen to be sneaky and manipulative. An example being when Snowy tries to barter with them to get a bargain for the reason Ð''paying more encourages dishonesty.' When the troops realise that Barney has been swindled they find the shop that sold him the so-called antique and trash his shop. The film is almost encouraging this activity, showing it as comedic rather than showing it as the blatantly racist and the bad behaviour that it actually is.

The disobedience of the Anzac's is also shown in Cairo. Two British generals are seen patrolling the streets. They ask some British troops to move some of the local mules out of the way. The British troops apologise salute, and then quickly move off as instructed. Their uniforms are tidy and worn properly and are shown to be submissive and answering to authority. We are then presented with Gibson and his fellow troops who are in complete contrast to the British troops. They refuse to recognise the British officers by failing to salute, and their uniforms are worn open and scruffy. They then get some horses and raucously emulate the actions of the British officers simply to get a laugh. It is actions such as these, which characterise the ill discipline and disrespect the Anzac's were known for not by Australians, but by those abroad.

Once the training camps in Cairo had finished the Anzac's left for the Lemnos Islands in preparation to land on the Turkish Dardanelles. The young Anzac's were tingling with anticipation, which is well shown by the film. Both Archie and Gibson are seen dancing around with the nurses at a function before the landing, unaware of the harsh resistance the Turkish would provide. Then, on April the 15th, 1915 the Anzac's landed on the beaches of Gallipoli. The two key elements for the attack on Gallipoli, would be surprise and efficiency, however the landing had none of these. The Turkish already knew of the attack from their spies in and around Egypt, so had shipped over 100 000 troops to well-fortified positions

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