A not altogether successful attempt to dramatise the events of 1945-1955 that led to the Labor Party Split of 1955, an event that underpinned the long Menzies Era (1949-1972). This series will appeal to the "true believers" who pine for the "light on the hill" and the socialist program that PM Ben Chifley committed his government to after 1945.
Strong performances by leads Ed Devereaux, Simon Chilvers and John Bonney are undermined by a script that reduces most of the supporting cast into caricatures, and skims over the very human flaws of the central characters that actually led to the split.
The worst case of this is the depiction of Dr Evatt as a heroic figure brought down by faint hearted colleagues like Fred Daley or wild eyed lunatics like B. A. Santamaria. A very dubious proposition. The limited view of Menzies makes it hard to understand how he ended up as Australia's longest serving PM. Even the view that ASIO conspired with the Catholic Social Studies Movement and the Americans to bring about the split gets an airing!
Interestingly I thought this series functioned best in its imagined dramatisations of the domestic lives of the politicians depicted. Scenes such as Dame Patti worried that a return to the Prime Ministership will lead Bob Menzies back to the bitter betrayal of 1941, or Elizabeth Chifley's growing awareness that Chifley's commitment Labor Party will doom their marriage were genuinely gripping. Especially good were the scenes showing Mary Alice Evatt struggling to cope with the domestic impact of the split.
Another aspect that worked well were the roles played by Tracy Mann as Tess and Mary Lou Stewart as Joanna. Tess's furious rebukes to her fellow communists on the failings of the Australian Communist Party were riveting, while Stewart's rebukes to her fellow journalists seemed very much in the spirit of the great women journalists of the era like Esme Fenton or Alice Jackson.
Enjoyable for the "true believers" or devotees of Australian political history. Strong, committed performances are highlights and make this uneven series worthwhile.
Strong performances by leads Ed Devereaux, Simon Chilvers and John Bonney are undermined by a script that reduces most of the supporting cast into caricatures, and skims over the very human flaws of the central characters that actually led to the split.
The worst case of this is the depiction of Dr Evatt as a heroic figure brought down by faint hearted colleagues like Fred Daley or wild eyed lunatics like B. A. Santamaria. A very dubious proposition. The limited view of Menzies makes it hard to understand how he ended up as Australia's longest serving PM. Even the view that ASIO conspired with the Catholic Social Studies Movement and the Americans to bring about the split gets an airing!
Interestingly I thought this series functioned best in its imagined dramatisations of the domestic lives of the politicians depicted. Scenes such as Dame Patti worried that a return to the Prime Ministership will lead Bob Menzies back to the bitter betrayal of 1941, or Elizabeth Chifley's growing awareness that Chifley's commitment Labor Party will doom their marriage were genuinely gripping. Especially good were the scenes showing Mary Alice Evatt struggling to cope with the domestic impact of the split.
Another aspect that worked well were the roles played by Tracy Mann as Tess and Mary Lou Stewart as Joanna. Tess's furious rebukes to her fellow communists on the failings of the Australian Communist Party were riveting, while Stewart's rebukes to her fellow journalists seemed very much in the spirit of the great women journalists of the era like Esme Fenton or Alice Jackson.
Enjoyable for the "true believers" or devotees of Australian political history. Strong, committed performances are highlights and make this uneven series worthwhile.
