Great Movie!

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2014)

Crowe has done a marvellous job in all respects. The history is just touched on and is subsumed by the narrative, as it should be for an entertainment. Nevertheless the Gallipoli campaign was not merely a bloody folly as Crowe would have it. British Prime Minister Asquith put this into perspective in a speech in 1915.Even although he admitted that there have been failures and shortcoming on our side, he drew attention to the probabilities had the attack not been launched. "These words must have the effect of toning down the disappointment of troops on the Peninsula, who have striven so earnestly and brilliantly to attain the whole object and have had to admit to a certain amount of failure."
Mr. Asquith tells us, "that had the invasion of Gallipoli had not been attempted, Turkey would have undoubtedly marched on Egypt; our greatly successful operations in Mesopotamia would not have been realised and our interests in the Persian Gulf would have been hampered. The Russians would have probably been ousted from the Caucasus and no doubt the Balkan States menace would have been far more serious, even that it is now. So in the face of all that, we have no reason to feel disappointment...we are keeping two hundred thousand Turks from doing any damage in another part of the war zone." Kemal Ataturk is briefly mentioned and the Turko-Greek conflict skated over with not too much background for the uninitiated.
Nevertheless, a great film.
Did I see a modern 9mm submachine gun with a perforated barrel in the train battles with the Greeks? A blooper.