TV post: ANZACs
ANZACs, a 1985 miniseries about a group of men who enlist in the 8th Battalion, AIF, in 1914 following them until 1919. Along the way, they are involved in the Gallipoli landing, the Somme offensive, particularly Pozieres, 3rd Ypres, and a bunch of other engagements.
This is a really excellent miniseries which has been praised for its historical accuracy, and which manages to cover off the touchpoints of the war without falling into the traps of being cliched or didactic. One might think that because I’m Australian I was bound to like it, but this fails to take account of Australians’ huge cultural cringe. I had some cringe-moments (mostly because of larrikin Bill Hogan), but I actually think this would appeal outside Australia as an interesting and fairly accurate depiction of the WWI experience.
Cut for length, not spoilers.
The cast of characters is led by Martin Barringon, son of a wealthy “pommie” landowner in Victoria, whose father organises for him a commission in the British army. Barrington refuses it, and instead enlists as a private in the AIF with his best friend, stockman Dick Baker. Meanwhile, Dick’s sister Kate has just graduated from nursing, so of course she’s along for the ride. At the Broadmeadows training camp we meet the rest of the “originals”, as they come to be known, including Pat (played by Paul Hogan of Crocodile Dundee fame) a Queensland drover, and Roly, a Melbourne lad with a literary bent.
In many ways, the characters don’t really progress beyond the archetypes they’re supposed to embody: gentleman officer (Barrington doesn’t stay a private for long…), larrikin and Future Hope of Australia respectively, but they operate well within their archetypes. Kate, the compulsory female character, is at least shown in action as a nurse, being competent at her job and generally living a life beyond being Barrington’s love interest. At Gallipoli, Flanagan (played by Jon Blake, whose acting career was tragically cut short by a car accident that left him paralysed and brain-damaged) arrives with the reinforcements. He later turns out to be one of the more interesting characters, in my opinion, but the main cast are all genuine, exuberant and likeable.
The plot follows the battalion as it goes from Australia to Turkey via Egypt, and then on to the Western Front. It follows a fairly standard war narrative, moving through the various battles and running a few limited side-plots about the boys’ families back home, as well as the developing romance between Barrington and Kate.
The men do talk like “Aussies”, which might have irritated me, but which I actually found pretty fascinating. Even since the 1980s, we have lost so much of what made Australian English unique - now it sounds either shamefully rural or else ludicrously affected, but the idiom and slang fits really well into the setting of ANZACs and gives a sense of the distinction between the Australians and their allies. The British are almost universally snobbish and villainous, with particular contempt reserved for staff officers. I accept that the men felt the staff officers were all idiots, but the series doesn’t challenge this - the staff officers in ANZACs really are all idiots.
The Horror of War stuff takes a backseat to The Power of Mateship, which sometimes worked - because one’s comrades and friends would be the only sanity in some circumstances - and sometimes was overplayed. Barrington returns as an officer to command the platoon he served in, which might be very loyal, but there’s a good reason for maintaining a division between officers and men, and that tension is ignored in favour of Barrington sticking by his mates.
What was interesting about this series was the comparatively low body count. Oh, there’s a body count, and the “originals” are severely depleted by the end, but ultimately it does sort of feel like one in ten died, which is about accurate. Soldiers also get wounded, invalided back behind the lines, and then return a while later, something which is rarely shown in films which focus on one big engagement such as Passchendaele or Beneath Hill 60.
I couldn’t stop watching this series, and after I finished it, it stayed with me for a while. Despite some flaws, one of the better WWI narratives I’ve encountered. It’s still pushing a message, but for once it’s the Power of (Mately) Love message, which seems to be a parculiarly Australian angle (c.f. Gallipoli and The Lighthorsemen) and at least offers a bit of a change from The Horror of War.
