Beneath Hill 60 [DVD] [2010]

Really enjoyed it

This is an excellent Australian war movie, based on the real events, about the tunnelers - soldiers who waged a little known but extremely dangerous and deadly war under the trench lines during World War I.This film tells mainly the story of one Australian tunneler unit, composed mostly of coal and copper miners, during their succesive missions on Western Front in 1916 and 1917, with the dramatic battle of Messines (7-14 June 1917) being the final fight. The main character is Lieutenant (later Captain) Oliver Woodward (Brendan Cowell), who actually really existed - this film is based on the written accounts of his actions which were conserved by his family.The scenario is very strong and very dramatic. Fighting scenes are excellent. The conditions of life in the trenches during World War I are very skillfully recreated. Details of weapons and uniforms were very well respected. All actors performed very well and dialogs are good.But the real strength of this film is the perfect control of the film by the director, who chose to show the "War to end all wars" by sticking to the facts and events and keeping drama and emotions at a reasonable level, and I believe this was a winning move. People certainly do not hide their feelings in this film and there is one scene with a shell shocked young soldier which is pretty intense, but the thing is never overdone. The language is occasionally very strong but here also director avoided the excess - as it is true that unlike Hollywood would like us to believe most people do NOT use the F-bomb in every sentence, even under stress... And I found that the tired and occasionally cynical stoicism of the "diggers" and "tommies" showed more about the horror of trenches in World War I than most of extraverted gesticulations and yellings.A good idea was to alternate war scenes with occasional back flashes of Woodward's life in Australia before he joined in 1916 and especially his memories of the love of his life, Marjorie, who at 16 was still too young to be married when he went to war... Those memories of another life and their contrast with war in trenches are a very succesful thing.I will not say much about the underground war and savage fights in the tunnels shown in this film to avoid spoilers, but this is a unique thing. I never saw before a war film dealing with this particular kind of warfare and this one immediately sets the standard to which any possible successors will be measured.Another strong point is that even if one high ranking officer is shown as an arrogant and mostly incompetent jerk, as a whole this film does not criticize the army. Some characters which seem as snotty and unsufferable appear in a completely different light once shots are fired in anger and if generals and officers are ruthless, this is because they have no choice... The film shows that if war is mostly evil, it is not necessarily the case of people who wage it... And such a reasonable approach is a very rare and precious thing in modern cinema.Bottom line, this is one of the best war films I ever saw and definitely the BEST war film I saw recently. Enjoy!

I received and watched this film yesterday, and I think it ranks as one of the best World War 1 films of recent years. It tells the true story of Australian miners preparing to set off a huge explosion beneath Hill 60, a German held strongpoint under Messines Ridge in Belgium. This happens and the resulting blast was the greatest man-made explosion ever recorded in history until that day, so powerful that its vibrations and tremors travelled across two seas (North Sea and Irish Sea) and two countries (England and Wales) to be felt as far away as London and Dublin.This film satisfies on all levels and tells a good story well. It leaves out all the artificial pathos, anti-war messages, neurosis, mournful music and nostalgia that so spoil other war films (Journey's End being a example for me) and it gets on with its authentic presentation. You so feel for the poor guys working in the cramped and soaking dark beneath, and for the German miners opposing them: all are human and doing their best in what really used to be a medieval form of siege warfare to bring down walls and towers. Occasionally the scene changes to green and pleasant Queensland in Australia in short romantic flashbacks, but these are also very well done with great characters you are glad to see again - and you do need these to break up the palpable claustrophobia and merciless action that comes across with increasing strength both above and below ground. The pleasing and memorable cast, the beautifully told story, the music, the action, the overall feel of it as it pulls you in; these are all hallmarks of a really good production which I thoroughly recommend.

Like Tommy D who posted a review yesterday (9th Nov.), I have other reviewers (and Amazon's recommended lists) to thank for my purchase of this film. When the first review mentioned the film  Kokoda - 39th Battalion , I was instantly interested, because I enjoyed that immensely.  Birdsong  is one of my top five favourite books too, so I was attracted to the idea of a film about sappers in WW1. Plus good films about the conflict are few and far between. There's the seminal anti-war film,  All Quiet On The Western Front , based on Remarque's book,  Gallipoli , and perhaps a handful of others. Hence the reason my antennae shoot up at the prospect of a good WW1 film.I won't go into the plot - the blurb and other reviews do that in spades. What's important to me is that with the passage of time, and the deaths of all the suriviving veterans, I sadly feel that in no time at all, WW1 will be consigned to history. Fine films like this, which are realistic (in as much as we can know), while also managing to be gripping and moving will hopefully be one of the ways that the terrible conflict, and the ordinary men who served in it, will never be forgotten. The fact that this film is based on a real man, Captain Woodward, and his exploits, adds to its appeal even more.(The two tiny spoilers were the poor music, and the shot of Australian mountains in the background of one scene - there are no mountains anywhere near Ypres as far as I know! Not enough to take away a star, however.)Ben Kane, author of The Forgotten Legion.