Beneath Hill 60 (2011)

Not even bad in a good way

Instant Favorite.

An action-packed slog

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

I'd not heard of this film until my Dad produced a copy of it on DVD he'd bought for a few £ in a supermarket. I watched it this evening.A superb film! I've seen a few films made by Australia about their military history and this is by far the best.The cast is great, some of the scenes underground are as claustrophobic as a good submarine film.The realism, as I would assume having not been at the front during the Great War, was spectacular. Everyone must have been caked in mud for the making of this film. The scenes with characters coming under fire were as good as some of those in 'Saving Private Ryan' as was the tension as they dodged the bullets (or not).My only criticism is the change in volume, I was constantly turning the volume up as they whispered and turning it down to protect my hearing. This is not reason enough to not recommend this film.

This is a great, sturdy film relying on good acting and story telling.There is nothing to get too exciting about in the way of action or affects but the story is engaging and the characters feel very real and it is easy to empathise with them.The 'war is hell' motif is there but isn't forced down your throat.Production is high and the battlefield scenes look very real and the director made a great decision not to shot everything in pitch blackness.I don't know how accurate the film is but the events are definitely plausible.Not quite Friday night material but definitely worth a watch.

Films about the 'Great War' are few and far between so when one comes along I try my best to see it. This is offering is certainly one of the better in recent times.Although set in the Western Front of Flanders, it follows the fortunes of an Australian unit who are mining under the German lines. The few films of the 'Great War' to feature Australians normally show the Middle Eastern or Turkish theatres but Beneath Hill 60 has them ankle deep in mud and rain.As someone that has an interest in the Western Front, I was impressed the way the front-line was re-created. It was as authentic looking as one could expect considering most of the action took place in the mine shafts beneath the trench systems. Indeed, the dank claustrophobic shafts are captured superbly. As is the constant water and poor lighting. Almost a different world of mute silence which contrasts with the near anarchy of the surface...An Australian reviewer has commented earlier on here about the British and Americans not watching this film. The Americans because they're not featured and the British because they're lampooned. As a Brit I don't feel that there was ANY lampooning by the script - if it WAS intended then it failed. The script itself is well presented and the cast all give very watchable performances.As is the case in these kind of films, there are moments when the tissues have to come out. beneath Hill 60 is no exception. Im pleased that it doesn't dwell too long during the more moving sequences - nor does it use them to win over the audience. Apart from the obvious scenes, there is one part of the film which I found personally moving. in one of the last shots of the film a photograph is taken - one of the Australians is being portrayed as suffering from 'shell-shock' or what we now call PTSD. This is something I recall from own grandfather suffering from before he died when i was a child. Constant shaking and jerking - unable to ever work properly or drive. One of a whole generation of men whose lives were taken away - one way or another.Beneath Hill 60 is not perfect but it IS is a very worthy tribute to those men who lost their lives - on both sides.8/10

This is my first film review on this site as a student, so bear with me.Being a massive fan of several modern war films, i was rather impressed with the production values on show here. This movie never felt like set design; the mud, the blood, the dirt and the trenches all instantly transported the viewer to the western front World War I. To see how far Australian film has come along in the last decade has really impressed me, to be able to move away from schlocky World War I television mini series of past years to a film of this caliber is truly an amazing thing, and the whole production crew for this film should be very proud of the final product that they have produced.The picture and sound would easily make it comparable to any Hollywood releases of this era in film, and it is nice to see Australia able to technically compete with the rest of the world in that regard.I think the script and cast were criticized perhaps too harshly by some, i found that the script perfectly mixed both the central love story of the main protagonist's sweetheart back home and the mess that was the war. Many movies (Pearl Harbor and Saving Private Ryan for instance) often make the mistake of having sequences of reflection/discussion that last too long, often bringing out an unfortunate feeling of Hollywood plot cheesiness. The former film indeed swamped so much romance into the film it felt the war was lost in the final product. There is enough flashes to the protagonists home, to his sweetheart and happier times to help the audience not be "war wearied" by the continuous darkness of the trenches without detracting from the point that this is a movie about war. At no time did any individuals musings of home, tears for the lost or moments of weakness feel out of character or like it was just added into the story in an effort to reach audiences. At the same time there is not too much of these scenes to remove the viewer from the war front long enough for the tension of the situation to be removed. I think the director has masterfully combined the two in a way that many better known directors often don't succeed at doing.It was very interesting to see also the interactions between the Australian and British troops in this movie, and I think one of the testament scenes in this movie would be the passing of a bottle of wine to the moving Australians to the remaining British troops on the line in a sign of solidarity. There have been some opinions that this film brings into light the British rather unfavorably but I don't think this was the intention of the director. If anything this film is very much about mate ship, and how in the end its not the officers keeping you and your men alive through this war, but each other.I would encourage all Australians to see this movie and support its work, but I would also encourage foreigners to view this movie, it is a tense and exciting story well worth your time. In closing, to be honest i never really viewed this as an "Aussie Movie" the whole time i viewed it, but simply as a movie. And i think that is the biggest triumph of Australian film to be able to remove a nationality from a film and to make it universally enjoyable by all.