Review of Beneath Hill 60 (2010) by Dot L — 25 Aug 2011

France, November 1916: As the Germans and Allies face each other across No Man's Land on the hellish Western Front, another battle is being fought, below the Earth's surface. Within cramped tunnels the men of the 1st Australian Tunnling Company wage a grueling battle with their German counterparts. Oliver Woodword leads his men digging tunnels beneath enemy lines where they plant explosives hoping to destroy the trenchworks that have claimed so many lives...but the Germans are also tunnelling and searching for Woodword and his men leading desperate hand to hand combat and the possability of being buried alive.

Based on Oliver Woodwards own writings, Beneath Hill 60 presents a side of the First World War rarely seen. Well acted and with an authentic feel this movie is superior to "Passchendaele" in every way...which is ironic because Messines Ridge in Belgium, home of the titular Hill 60, and the explosion (largest man made non-nuclear in history heard as far away as Dublin Ireland) was part of the opening phases of the 3rd Battle of Ypres also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (the Canadian Corp would take part in the battles final phase). Definitly a film to check out.