Beneath Hill 60

First published on 6 Aug 2010. Updated on 23 Aug 2010.

Let's start with the positives: this is an incredible story, made all the more incredible for being true. Jeremy Sims' fluid direction takes us from Queensland farmlands to the muddy trenches of the French frontlines, telling the tale of the Australian Tunnelling Company, whose subterranean assault on the titular Hill ended in what was arguably the biggest manmade explosion to that date, and a triumphant victory for the British and Australian forces (um, for eight days, at which point the Germans recaptured the territory). And as such it's a white-knuckle race against time as the Aussies bring their ambitious scheme to fruition, while the Germans slowly work out what's going on and move to counter them.

The downside (as the description of a "white-knuckle race against time" may indicate) is that it relies on many clichés of war films, most notably the rough camaraderie of the frontlines via a ragtag bunch thrown together by fate and circumstance whose bickering turns into a bond forged in blood by the horrors of etc etc etc. The shortish running time means that characterisation of Woodward's platoon is reduced to exposition-spouting genre caricatures: the terrified boy who becomes a man, the larrikin jokester who's obviously going to get killed, the inseparable partnership inevitably separated, the unofficial leader of the group whose distrust for his commander kindles into fierce respect, and so on. Both the Australian and German forces are led by stuffy by-the-book military leaders who send brave boys to their deaths; the English characters are either what-ho toffs or cheeky-chappy Lahndahners (such as Potsy, played by Bob Franklin) and there's the obligatory mid-war football game representing the exuberance and physicality of manhood about to be cut down in its prime by the senselessness of heavy-handed metaphor.

The film rests heavily on the performance of Brendan Cowell as Captain Oliver Woodward, who does a decent job as the everyman thrust into a dangerous world, but who looks downright creepy in the scenes where he woos the not-yet-17 Marjorie Waddell (played by the undeniably beautiful – but very, very young – Bella Heathcote), and since it's an Australian production made within the last 18 months, it naturally includes the ubiquitous Gyton Grantley. In all, Beneath Hill 60 is a genuinely fascinating story (ahem) undermined by overadherence to war movie conventions.

Extras Commentary with Jeremy Sims and David Roach, Director's Storyboard, Photo Gallery