User reviews

One powerful memory I have of growing up was a photograph on the mantelpiece in my Grandmother's house of her brother who was killed on the second day at Gallipoli. He was a signaller; it would have been hard to get insurance for a man whose job was to stand up in full view and wave a couple of brightly coloured flags. Inevitably his luck ran out - he was 21 years old.

Even without that family connection, I have always found the Gallipoli campaign fascinating, not just for the battle, but for what it means to Australians, and how our collective memory about it has changed over the decades. Each generation reinterprets it to fit the times we live in.

And that is the big problem for any filmmaker: which Gallipoli do you make? The one with the Anzacs as exceptional warriors who showed the British, Turks, and the world a thing or two - more or less the memory that existed between the two world wars and into the 1950's - or do you go for the Anzacs as tragic victims, sacrificial lambs to the incompetence of senior officers and politicians; the image that has been finely-honed over the last couple of decades.

The filmmakers have gone for something between the two. Getting the tone right was the critical thing. There is no glorification of war here. The series is built around pale-looking Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, although hardly the epitome of the Bronzed Anzac, he nonetheless demonstrates inner strength as the campaign progresses.

And as for the first day of battle, which occupies the whole of the first episode, I think the filmmakers caught a feeling for the event as described in the many histories, however there are two things worth pointing out.

The first could be put down to artistic licence. Although real shots of the terrain are married with recreations shot in Australia, the hills beyond Anzac Cove were actually more densely covered in underbrush in the beginning of the campaign than shown in this depiction. Of course it would have been just as hard to film in dense brush as it was to fight a battle in it.

My other point is more critical. What about the Kiwis? New Zealanders have often felt that Australians have hi-jacked the whole of the Anzac story - not so if you read C.E.W. Bean - but they may have a point here. Although the filmmakers have gone for an impression of the landing, with an amalgam of actions fought by various units, it seems to take place mainly on the left of Anzac. New Zealanders do appear in later episodes, but the scriptwriters could easily have included them on the day of the landing because in reality they arrived with fresh troops in the afternoon to reinforce the exhausted Australians on the left - it was a decisive moment.

That aside, this is a brave attempt to tell a complex story. Although some budget limitations do show - the big Turkish counter-attack needed a bigger canvas - the aftermath with the armistice and the burial of the bodies really hits home.

It's more polished than the "Anzacs" mini-series, but does not eclipse Weir's "Gallipoli" that 'buddy movie' par excellence set against one momentous event in a big campaign. Instead, this "Gallipoli" covers that big campaign including the Diggers on the beach, the Turks in the hills facing them, the High Command at sea sipping scotch and sodas, the journalists trying to expose the whole mess, and even a few flashbacks showing happier times before the war. It was a lot to cram in, but it all works once you get a feel for it, and there are touches of brilliance; John Bach's General Hamilton in particular.

There are more episodes to come, but the tone has been set. On one level, the filmmakers have made an affecting drama, while on the other, they have given those who know little of the story a better understanding about what happened in that terrible place one hundred years ago.

As a devoted history reader, I also try to follow such shows, films, and series because I just wanna feel that "connection".

This production is far from the best historical adaptation but as a great-grandson of a Turkish martyr that fell on Gallipoli, I must admit I felt more than just a simple "connection". It honestly brought tears to my eyes at a certain point.

True, the character development is a little off. True, many moments from the show might seem cliché. Also, I don't know about all the actors but the Turkish speakers had to work on their pronunciations a little bit more.

But to see an Australian production that shows the Turks the respect that we have shown to them is just a sign of a beautiful thing in my opinion. Sure, some moments felt off, definitely. All things considered, I find this show beautiful, touching, brutally honest about some aspects of the war.

For the people who think about watching the show, I can only say that if you're looking for "Saving Private Ryan: WWI Version", you won't find it in this show. This is different. Really different. It definitely is worth a shot.

Those heroes who shed their blood and lost their lives! You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country to of ours.

You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

I, honestly, have never heard of this show. I even spent 6 months in Australia, and this never came up in passing. The only reason this show was given a watch by me is because of boredom, which always tends to lead me to war shows. Anyways, this show is so darn good! I definitely would say this belongs in the same breath as Band of Brothers. IMO, nothing will ever top Band of Brothers for me, but Gallipoli was certainly very well made like it. What raises this show up on top of it just being good is the fact that Gallipoli is not well known. Anything to do with the battles here, all the Churchill stuff being hugely unknown where he failed badly at this time (everyone knows him when he took over as PM in WW2, but don't realize the failure beforehand), and the story of the ANZACS. ANZAC day is obviously very big in Australia and NZ, even having a day for it, but as Americans we know NOTHING about it. I learned while I was studying there, and I love history!

So in a nutshell this show should certainly be given a watch when you have the time to pay attention. The second episode especially was such a great window into what war is like. It's hard to imagine these days where it's a different world, but the World Wars were largely made up of just regular people. The wars before now were a lot less personal due to technology, and fighting tactics....but reality sank in hard when they learned their hated foes were just men fighting with wives, childeren and families (A "we aren't so different you and I" type thing).

Wow. This just got better and better. It must have been hard to have re-created such a difficult story of the Gallipoli battlefields. I have to say I was extremely impressed. The young actors were wonderful and very true to what I am sure a lot of these characters were like. I knew some of them as old men.

You really felt like you were there. To see what these poor buggers went through really went right to the heart. The director and scriptwriter managed to tell the whole story as it truthfully happened and apparently it was approved by the Australian War Memorial for being factual. I did not fully understand till now just how it all unfolded, but to see this series made it all very simple to understand just what happened. I think this should be shown in all Australian High Schools. I had always heard about the Battle of Lone Pine but when I saw this portrayal I was so shocked. Also what happened to the New Zealanders should never have happened. I think the English people should see it also as it showed a loyal bunch of Australians and New Zealanders giving their lives and losing them so a stuck up English General could add another medal on his chest.

I could not believe that this was being lied about to the Australian Prime Minister. And I was very surprised when the Aussie journalist Murdoch and his British counterpart decided to write and inform their leaders of the truth. Upon reading the letter which was circulated far and wide, the troops were finally withdrawn. Amazing story and very well told with this brilliant mini series.

An extremely good effort. Given that this production did not have a Hollywood blockbuster budget it has to be given top marks. When I saw the previews with the 'back home' flashbacks I was worried that this would be one of those war movies where there are just flashes of action interspersed among long 'back in Australia' scenes. My fears were unfounded – back home scenes were just a few minutes at a time and did bring meaning to the story. The action was intense and brutal and very convincing. At least one critique here on IMDb said the acting was poor. I disagree. Kodi Smit-McPhee was the perfect boy soldier. He certainly didn't overact; in fact his performance was somewhat subdued (when Robert DeNiro or Al Pacino do this we call it genius acting). And I couldn't fault any of the other actors either. This show – although it is a mini-series – has made it into my top ten war movies, right alongside "Saving Private Ryan", "A Bridge Too Far", "Generation War", "Black Book", "Stalingard" and "Full Metal Jacket". On a scale of 0 to 9 I give it a 9.

When this aired I saw a few minutes and turned it off. I thought it looked lame and cliched. I decided to see a full episode this year and thought it was outstanding, and the other epis followed in quick succession. Yes, the characters are a bit shallow and it leans heavily on its good production value, which is strong for an Australian produced TV series. But the characters are never cliched excepted in isolated moments. I can see the temptation for Australian productions to slam the Brits as dummies in the WWI context, but ironically Sir Ian Hamilton to probably the most sympathetic and well-rounded character in the series. There is great attention to historical accuracy, and the broad scope of events is very informative to the layman, and full of neat surprises of historical details for those who appreciate it. Maybe it is patriotism calling that I give it 10/10, but Anzac history is of personal interest to me and I find it a shame the show bombed. It's not often we see quality Aussie stuff unfortunately.

First of all, Gallipoli campaign was one of the most epic battle in WWI. As we all know the total casualties of both side almost 500.000 man including my grandfather's uncle.

Considering these informations, the series look like pale in comparison to reality mostly because of the budget i suppose. if they could manage to increase the budget it would be much more satisfying, so we don't have to see maximum 15 dead body lying down in a battle like that.

I also made a quick research about the casts, especially the Turkish actors. And I never heard of them before. I made this research because of their accent, I am Turkish but some of them did not even sound like Turk.There are lots of Turkish actors which can participate in a production like this and that would be much better. Also I think that the actor, who plays Mustafa Kemal is a bit inadequate and doesn't look like him as well.

So in conclusion, while the main characters and the Australian & New Zellander characters are well placed and good in acting, Turkish characters are not. Musics are so so, could be better. And the story looks like progressing well for now.

It brings to home the tragedy and futility of Gallipoli. Four Aussie men from our ancestor families fought at Gallipoli. One man from Orange NSW was injured on landing on the 25th April - witnesses said it looked like his neck was severed, he survived after 30 days in hospital, he was in the 2nd battalion, later wounded on the 7th August at the battle of Lone Pine sadly he died on the 9th buried at sea from the Delta along with his commanding officer.

His cousin, also born in Orange NSW, was a Sergeant Farrier in the 4th Field Ambulance, he would have witnessed the shocking injuries of the Anzacs. Perhaps he was able to comfort his younger cousin?

Two brothers from Leichardt Sydney NSW, 2nd battalion reinforcements, survived Gallipoli but died later in France and Belgium.

I see their faces in this film. The realty and emotion is overwhelming almost too difficult watch. But so well done.

Now this is what I call a good mini-series. It is interesting, realistic, believable and touching. Very well directed, filmed and acted.

Above all, it also gives the viewer an insight into one of the great battles of the first world war, which, especially for the Australians, has legendary status. It is also very interesting how the movie vividly depicts the divide between the classes present at the time. The film's portrayal of the generals is phenomenal... The generals and their staffs where so distant and alienated from their troops that most of the time, they had no clear idea of what was really going on on the battlefield!

All in all, mini-series very well made. Highly recommended.

Overall I thought Gallipoli was a top-notch mini-series with high production value, but held back by a few unnecessarily flaws...

The major flaw being the very distracting back-story of Tolly & Bevan (the main characters/ brothers in the series) ... and the girlfriend back home. The way this side story is woven into the series unfortunately makes it seem to be far more defining to the main character... than the war itself.

A somewhat slow paced production like Gallipoli can work if it ends up carrying the sort of gravitas it was aiming for (and that the story deserves). With a few changes this could have been accomplished, but fell completely short due to the girlfriend back-story.

With a better choice of "side-stories" and a few casting changes, this could have been in the major leagues ... but ultimately is just a very good minor league series.

Worth watching, but not as great as it could have been!

I think this series is a colossal failure for two simple reasons: One-dimensional story with awfully inadequate character development and --even more important-- enormous historical errors.

But before the negatives, let me write about the positives in the story. First the casting of Australian actors... Instead of fancy-looking over 30 years old established actors, the series made a good job in hiring young talented actors for depicting the ordinary "diggers" in the front. It definitely gives an authentic feel to the series. Second is the music. It is simply eloquent and captivating.

Unfortunately apart from these, there are not much to say good about the series.

As I said, in the Gallipoli, there is not any character development, no person to really empathize with, no multi-dimensional feelings, --in short-- no real war experience. Instead, what we have is the cacophony of privates, generals,journalists and ill-represented enemies.

While it does not glorify the war, it is still caught in many militaristic myths. For instance, it depicts the young Anzac soldiers as war-machines from the first day of the battle without leaving any room for their transformation throughout the battle. We are expected to believe that seventeen year old skinny kid without any combat experience bayonets and kills countless enemies from the day one in the peninsula. Unlike The Pacific's Eugene Sledge, who became proficient in war as he gained experience and got more scared, Gallipoli's Thomas "Tolly" Johnson snipes and bayonets well from the first day to the last while keeping his child-like innocence. (any soldier's diary would testify how unlikely it is)

There are also many small yet important historical inaccuracies. In Episode 1, the series depicts a handful of ANZAC soldiers (seemed like understrength battalion) were pushing on to the hills on the first day of attack. While in reality, about ten-thousand soldiers were fully committed to an assault on that day and --miracolously-- could not capture the hill thanks to the efforts of two Turkish regiments (27th and 57th), who were numerically far outnumbered by the Anzacs. Instead of Turkish efforts, the series decided to blame it on the incapability and confusion among the Allied commands while keeping the heroic and capable image of ordinary soldiers.

Second, in Episode 4, all of a sudden, Tolly decides to go to sniping trip and suddenly we see him outside of the overcrowded trenches, which --in reality-- surrounded entire Anzac front, in an open field with no men around. (note that, in reality, unlike Western Front, there was not no-men's land in this war.) Moreover he can get a clear view of the Turkish HQ tent and shot half a dozen of Turkish soldiers including the commander. There is obviously no trench, no guard, no outside post in a surrounding area. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the Gallipoli war and the topography of the peninsula, would know that it is impossible.

In conclusion, this series is not an accurate nor fair representation of the Gallipoli war. It is rather a melodrama of it. Considering the money and effort spent on it, it is sad.

We only found this on Amazon prime and decided to watch as my late maternal grandfather was a Gallipoli veteran but died before I met him.

This series is absolutely outstanding well acted, well written with no tired cliches with a capacity to shock. It is very realistic and the battle scenes startling without being overly gory.

Overall we both were amazed at this series and believe it deserves more distribution.

Gallipoli (TV series) (2015) - Glendyn Ivin

8/10

fantastic Aussie series directed by the talented Glendyn Ivin & written by Christopher Lee, stepping up to the plate with quality story telling, cinematography & production values up to the international standards… this is not a patriot story, this is a brutal recall of events that happened at Gallipoli in 1915 focusing on 4 young Aussie boys who enlisted to fight the Turks alongside the British, Kiwis, French & Indians… what unravels is an 8 month campaign of death, struggle, sickness, blistering heat & ice cold winter…

throughout there's a lot of humanity shown within the young Anzac's right up to the commanding officers, even with what seems like impossible odds to overthrow the Turks & get to higher ground… with over 80000 casualties, even more from the Turkish side, the beautiful landscape is the setting for a bloody battlefield that seems to never end or with much progress, until the last body drops to the ground …

it was great to see this story told in such a bold manner, with an amazing score by Stephen Rae, stunning cinematography by Germain McMicking & brilliant performances across the board, especially the leads Kodi Smit-McPhee, Nicholas Hope & Harry Greenwood, this is a tour De force of our nations history, something that we all should remember or should i say "lest we forget"… a haunting tale that all Aussies should embrace as a reminder of what the diggers sacrificed for our nation & the king of England…

props goes to all the local involved i know who helped make this such an amazing series Anthony Littlechild Thomas Formosa-Doyle Kat Schachte Lee Norris Robert Connolly Chris Hocking Emma Bortignon

you should listen Gallipoli (kanlİ Sirt) battle from M.Kemal ATATÜRK the Turkish great leader

ENGLİSH

THE DİSTANCE between trench is 8 meter it means the death is absolute the men in the first trench are absolutely become ŞEHİD(THE men who died for Islam country or family) other soldier run to the instead of Deads and they See dead people they know they will die but they don't show hesitation some soldier who knows read Arabic reading Quran(the holy book of Islam)and they are preparing for heaven for Allah some other soldier saying Kelimei Sehadet(the holiest word in Islam) this is a great example for power of the TURKS and these thing help Turk for win (I am sorry my English is not good enough I tried to help) Atatürkçülük,C1,s. 463

Overall, this was a very good series. For the most part, I thought this was a very realistic portrayal of the actual battle. There are little flaws and goofs here and there, (for instance soldiers smoking filtered cigarettes that didn't come into existence until the late 40s early 50s.), but I have a habit of spotting little details that are out of place more so than the average person. The actors portrayals of the historical characters was for the most part spot on. I did have issues with the accuracy of the soldiers in combat. There wasn't the shock and paralyzing fear that is common to soldiers engaged in combat for the first time. Additionally the post battle stress was not really portrayed well at all. Still, the series has a lot of merit and does represent the history of Galipoli well. I do recommend it!

I'm not really sure how to weight my two different opinions of Gallipoli. Essentially, the battle is viewed from two perspectives, that of the rank and file soldiers, and that of the commanders and political elites.

The strong point is the latter portions of the miniseries, where it tells the interesting story of how the futile struggle was allowed to go on so long and of the journalistic hero, Ellis Bartlett, who succeeded in ending it. It manages a complex portrayal of the character of General Hamilton, an honorable and likable man whose primary flaw seems to have been in not realizing when he was wrong.

The portion telling of the actual battle was the weakest - it's very solidly an anti-war film, or at the very least an anti-battle of Gallipoli film, which isn't exactly a controversial position. But its militant intent on robbing the conflict of all its glory, both through grim depictions of its most repellent aspects and its dreamlike interruptions of the most tense moments with flashbacks to a childhood romance, make these sections a slog. I can see this treatment succeeding in a film-length portrayal, but in a miniseries I found it tedious and repetitive.

Wow, I randomly chose this movie from a streaming service because of the name thinking of its connection to the original Gallipoli, itself an amazing movie. Not sure if both are connected somehow, but I came in expecting to hate the series. I never heard of it nor did I hear any praise for it.

I was just floored by the end of the first episode. I was haunted by it. The acting was phenomenal, the character development and story were impeccable, this is a classic. One of the best things I've watched in a while.

I have seen the complaints from other posters on here and think some of them are ridiculous. It's just nitpicking. If you know anything about how the movies and TV shows are made, you'd know why the lead characters always run around without their helmet or hat. It's so you can spot the actor, not because they're fools. I was a bit bothered by the scenes during the ceasefire with the Turks. If it was accurate, that's one thing, but I just can't see how ANZAC and Turk soldiers would be chummy knowing that in hours, they would have to fight each other again. I feel some may help each other here and there, but there would be suspicion from both sides that would keep each other at bay.

It's definitely worth a watch and some of the inaccuracies can be ignored.

It's a good series but I couldn't help but cringe at the god-awful love triangle that was included.

It includes the main character Tolly (who is only 17 years old) and his older brother's wife. His older brother is maybe in his early to mid 20's somewhere. His wife too I would assume.

This is where the issues arrise. Tolly has a crush on his brothers WIFE. And guess what? The wife apparently has a thing for him too... remember he's a 17 year old KID?

His brothers wife cannot be faithful it seems. Why on earth Tolly would wanna grab a girl like that, is beyond me. Tolly, bro, that girl is gonna cheat on you too!

It makes the wife an extremely unlikeable character.

So if you can handle this STUPID love triangle, the rest of the series is great.

I really wanted to enjoy this show but I couldn't get past the uninteresting cinematography, editing and unconvincing acting. It almost felt lazy, like it was too much effort to set up and film more shots for each scene.

I really did not feel like the cast were in any danger in the battle scenes. I can imagine that the real soldiers would have been constantly wondering if they would be the next to take a shot every time a gun fired - I didn't feel any of that at all. I wanted to be on the edge of my seat and to only have a break from the intensity during the flash backs. Maybe my expectations were too high.

I also couldn't not see playschool every time I saw the mum.

Hopefully the future episodes will be better, buts it's a shame that the first episode didn't give me much to look forward to.

Seems to be well filmed with an incredible level of detail