War and Australian nationalism

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showing in London, from the Australian paper Socialist Fight GALLIPOLI is the peninsula which Australian, New Zealand,. French and British troops tried to occupy from April to December 1915. The climax of their stay was a battle which raged from 6-10 August, when the Allies launched an unsuccessful attack on Turkish-held territory.

The film 'Gallipoli' opens in Australia sometime between the outbreak of World War 1 and the Gallipoli landing. It closes during the August battle. The two main characters, Archy (Mark Lee) and Frank (Mel Gibson) are promising young runners who meet at a Western Australian country race. Their rivalry turns to friendship, and the film is based around how these two come to participate in the August battle at Gallipoli.

Archy wants to go to Gallipoli from the start, but his family doesn't want him to, and he is underage. So he tricks his way into the Light Horse Brigade.

Frank has personal ambness, and is not interested itions to get into a busiin enlisting, but eventually gives in to social pressure to do his national duty.

Gallipoli maintains your attention and enjoyment. -It's funny. Much of the humour revolves around the mateship/rivalry of Frank and Archy, or around displays of 'Aussie' behaviour. Despite the known outcome of the battle, we about the fate of the two are kept suspense heroes right to the end.

The vivid recreation of the historical period and the striking location shots both . make for stunning viewing. The music draws attention right from the start, because it hints at what is to come. While Gallipoli may not have deserved its near monopoly of Australian film awards for the year, it is an entertaining film of high quality.

However, since Gallipoli is about a famous and symbolic event in Australian history, it also should be judged for what it can teach about history.

At the very end of the film we see the mass slaughter of troops who were ordered to run virtually defenceless into machine gun fire. Yet we see no attempt to explain or even investigate why su many lives were lost in such a way. The only suggestion of an explanation is that it was the aloof Poms who gave the wrong order from a safe distance, doing down the heroic diggers.

By contrast, the Australian major went down with his troops.

The film presents the deceptive impression that all Áustralia was gripped by nationalism, and united behind the war effort.

But in 1915 a leading Industrial Workers of the World activist was jailed on a sedition charge for opposing the war. The IWW opposed the war right from the start. The front page of their paper, Direct Action, on 14 August 1914, carried the following statement:

'War! What for? For the workers and their dependents, death, starvation, poverty and untold misery. For the capitalist class, gold stained with the blood of millions, riotous luxury, banquets of jubilation over the graves of their dupes and slaves. 'War is hell! Send the capitalists to hell and wars are impossible' Another line on page read:

'Pay no rent, no debts! Give the employer a chance to show his patriotism' Later social and political results of the war fall outside the time span of the film, but are evidence of the intluence of the ideas of the IWW and other socialists and militants. The Coal Strike of 1916, the General Strike of 1917, the split in the Labour Party over conscription, and the jailing of 12 IWW leaders, ten of them for four years.

Frank and Archy are totthey're in for. Their attitudes reflect the widespread naivete which must have existed amongst those who signed up 'for Australia' with no conception of the horrors they would face.

But the lack of any, even minor character, who could see through this, makes the film simplistic and means that no historical lessons can be learnt from it.

The major contradiction for the film-makere is that It was essentially nationalism which motivated so many young Australians to sign up for the senseless slaughter, and yet the film comes out promoting Australian nationalism. The total lack of any attempt to resolve or even acknowledge this contradiction is the central weakness of the film. Gallipoli is really a promotion of mateship and Australian nationalism, and the setting was chosen, not for what could be learnt from it, but because the Gallipoli campaign is a symbol of the birth of Australian nationalism: 1915 was also a good year for the Australian bourgeoisie -BHP* really got off the ground!

* BHP: the giant giant mining ning company Broken Hil Proprietary.

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: Socialist Orzaniser no: 69 January 21, 1981 Paze Socialist