The release of Sam Mendes’s Oscar-tipped first world war thriller places it in a limited subset of films covering a harrowing and violent period of time
About 35 minutes into Peter Weir’s Gallipoli, Archy (Mark Lee) and Frank (Mel Gibson), two champion-level sprinters from Australia, are trudging their way through 50 miles of desert in a desperate effort to make it to Perth and enlist to serve their country in the first world war. Along the way, they encounter a grizzled camel driver who doesn’t even realize there’s a war against Germany. The stranger has questions.
“How did it start?” he wonders. “Don’t know exactly,” replies Archy. “But it was the Germans’ fault.” They tell the man they’re headed to the front in
Turkey, because the Turks are German allies. “Huh, you learn something new every day,” he says. “Still, I can’t see what it’s got to do with us.” “If we don’t stop them there, they could end up here,” Archy argues.