Review of Beneath Hill 60 (2010) by Anne G — 02 May 2010

When Australians think about the first World War, it pretty much begins and ends with Gallipoli. The equally bloody and pointless struggles of Australian troops in the trenches of the western front tends to get overlooked, and hopefully Beneath Hill 60 will go some small way towards redressing this imbalance.

It doesn't hurt that, unlike most World War I stories, this doesn't get bogged-down story-wise in labouring over the horror of the trenches and the futility of war-- which might be important messages, but can get a bit dull over two hours.

Beneath Hill 60 tells the story of Queensland miner Oliver Woodward (Brendan Cowell) and the First Australian Tunneling Division. Formed in 1916 to join the allied effort in tunneling under the German lines in Belgium, their mission was simple but dangerous: the Germans knew they were up to something, and were constantly digging counter-tunnels in the hope to breaking into theirs. Add in the risk of cave-ins, flooding, and the fact that they were going to be planting enough explosives under the German lines to create the biggest explosion the world had ever seen, and it's little wonder that much of this movie is suspense at its finest.

It's apparent that to broaden the film's appeal, there weren't any women in the trenches. After all, it could weaken what could have been a gripping and memorable thriller. Nevertheless, this flick is still a good war movie. It's just that there's clearly a great one buried in the mud that never quite manages to get out.