I remember seeing this mini-series on TV in New Zealand back late '80s and falling in love with it. Years later I bought the series from an ABC shop here in Australia and found that it's entertainment value had not been lost.
I must admit, I was rather disappointed to hear that it was cut down to movie-length for the Nth American audience. I can't imagine that being done without losing key plot-points. It would be like turning Band Of Brothers into a 120minute film.
I think the mini-series captured the sentiment of the soldiers, the politicians, and the families back home quite accurately. There is no denying that this film was made with an Australian audience in mind, and the difference in cultures between varying countries would undoubtedly see some people lose interest in the story-line and/or not understand or appreciate various moments or quotes. The fact of the matter is, there hasn't been enough of this content in this region of the world. All too often we see films depicting Americans as the winners of the wars. Not to discard their participation in either war, and with all due respect to their veterans, we must however remember that on both occasions of World Wars, the USA were rather late entrants. That said, the dialogue between characters was, at times, "Aussied-up" - but surely if we've learnt to understand "American" as a language, it can't be too hard to understand "Australian".
Back to the story: By following the same group from the time war breaks out, to after peace has been declared, it's easy to see why so many people have compared it to an earlier, Australian version of Band Of Brothers. The characters are all strong and represent Working-class Australia of the time. Strong and entertaining performances by all, especially Andrew Clarke, John Blake, Christopher Cummins and Paul Hogan (purely the entertainment draw-card).
As a born-and-bred Kiwi, I must admit that I'm not in the least offended or put out by the fact that there was basically NO mention of New Zealand in the entire series. I know that without "NZ" they would have been called the "AACS", but this film is a bit of Australiana. Along with "Gallipoli" and "The Light Horsemen", ANZACS is to Australians what "Chunuk Bair" is to New Zealanders.
I must admit, I was rather disappointed to hear that it was cut down to movie-length for the Nth American audience. I can't imagine that being done without losing key plot-points. It would be like turning Band Of Brothers into a 120minute film.
I think the mini-series captured the sentiment of the soldiers, the politicians, and the families back home quite accurately. There is no denying that this film was made with an Australian audience in mind, and the difference in cultures between varying countries would undoubtedly see some people lose interest in the story-line and/or not understand or appreciate various moments or quotes. The fact of the matter is, there hasn't been enough of this content in this region of the world. All too often we see films depicting Americans as the winners of the wars. Not to discard their participation in either war, and with all due respect to their veterans, we must however remember that on both occasions of World Wars, the USA were rather late entrants. That said, the dialogue between characters was, at times, "Aussied-up" - but surely if we've learnt to understand "American" as a language, it can't be too hard to understand "Australian".
Back to the story: By following the same group from the time war breaks out, to after peace has been declared, it's easy to see why so many people have compared it to an earlier, Australian version of Band Of Brothers. The characters are all strong and represent Working-class Australia of the time. Strong and entertaining performances by all, especially Andrew Clarke, John Blake, Christopher Cummins and Paul Hogan (purely the entertainment draw-card).
As a born-and-bred Kiwi, I must admit that I'm not in the least offended or put out by the fact that there was basically NO mention of New Zealand in the entire series. I know that without "NZ" they would have been called the "AACS", but this film is a bit of Australiana. Along with "Gallipoli" and "The Light Horsemen", ANZACS is to Australians what "Chunuk Bair" is to New Zealanders.