User Reviews

There have been a number of relatively realistic movies about war that have been released over the past twenty-five years or so -- "Platoon," "Saving Private Ryan," "Blackhawk Down" -- but this one has to be among the most brutal of them.

For one thing, combat in a rain forest is about as awful as it gets. The opening images tell us what to expect. First, there are some arty shots of leaves and war materials, all dripping with water, and a few shots of animal life -- borrowed, maybe, from the poetic "The Thin Red Line" -- while a solemn voice describes the situation facing an untrained and ill-equipped group of Australian engineers hastily conscripted into a military unit designed to stop the Japanese advance across the mountains of New Guinea, save Port Moresby, and thus Australia. The Americans are in no position to help and the "chocos" are outnumbered ten to one by the enemy.

Then we see a mountain of yellow mud from which a half-clothed man emerges as in an animated cartoon. The man is coated from head to foot with dripping mud and carries a rifle that can barely be distinguished for what it is. He slips and slides down a mountain trail, past a long line of stretcher bearers hauling the wounded uphill. He finds the mate he was looking for. But when he shakily unbuttons the man's shirt, the intestines spill out, and out of them slides a living snake. It's a combination of a bad dream and a flash forward but it tell us this isn't going to be lighthearted fare.

It's a riveting story of a patrol, half a dozen or so men, sent forward as an "early warning line" to warn of the approach of the Japanese. Half of them die. And when they die, they don't just stop a bullet, grasp their chests and slump wide-eyed into the sludge either. They are riddled by machine guns; they have a bayonet thrust through their orbital socket into their brain; they're tied to a tree and used as bayonet practice. Squibs? They're so yesterday.

There was hardly a moment when I could look away from the screen, although at times, what with the raggedy uniforms and the coats of blood and ooze, it was hard to tell one character from another. There were also moments when the dialect was a bit confusing. "Chocos and sinkers in the same bloody hole." (At least that's what I think they said.) I also wondered exactly how graphic a violent film had to be to achieve its end. The horrors of living in a tropical rainforest are bad enough -- the ants, the mosquitoes, the constant filth. All the men are sick with one disease or another. Do we need to see one or two taking a particularly urgent dump because of dysentery? Do we really need to see a helpless man shiver and scream while a bayonet is thrust through his eye? I'm not arguing that explicit brutality makes for a poor movie. I'm just raising the question of how far we ought to go.

It's an exhausting tale. Men haul themselves up mountains and slide back down again through the dripping shrubbery, carrying packs full of equipment. And at times I was as lost as they were. By the end, you're likely to feel as spent as the survivors. And when a colonel addresses the men and gives them the expectable pep talk, it seems like a necessary catharsis. He almost chokes up when he tells them that they've been made to witness some things no one should ever have to see, and he is so right.

The performances are fine, with no one standing out in any of the few principal roles. The direction is professional and the sparse musical score apt. The camera does wobble once in a while but only functionally, when it adds to the tension of a scene. The technique isn't used indiscriminately as it is in so many current action movies like the "Bourne" franchise. The few scenes of combat are well handled. It always adds a touch of verisimilitude when a man under fire has to stop to reload and we see his hands trembling as he inserts another clip.

A nice job by cast and crew, covering a part of the war that was almost completely lacking in glamor but necessary nonetheless.

There is no doubt that the Kokoda Trail depicts a truly great event in Australian Military history the brave defence of Australia against the cruel barbaric Japanese Army.Howver this film fails to take into account the story of the "Fuzzy Wuzzy's" or the New Guinea natives that The Australians used to help them carry out there military operations. The film also fails to give a credible account of the Australian soldier and his behaviour in this event. It is more like an uninformed contemporary view of what is was like.

Again the Australian film industry has failed to give this important chapter in Australia';s history the film it deserved. This is film making at its worst with arbitrary cinematography , bad scripting and dialogue , no character development and cliché jungle warfare scenes.

It fails to imbue the audience in any meaningful perspective other than the Japanese Army were ruthless and cruel murderers of an ill-equipped and badly trained group of Australians fighting in a jungle.

The film failed as most Australian films do to attract a significant Australian audience in fact they stayed away in droves.

I am not going to join the usual parochial garbage of saying its great because its an Australian film. I say either do a great job or just leave it to some one who knows how. This government funded film is just another failure by Australia's wealthy and spoilt rich kids.

I am giving it zero stars because its an insult to the descendants of these truly great Australians and their enormous sacrifice. What a shameful waste and disrespect and I know this review will provoke more negativity from the Movie Show crew and most reviewers but I have a right to my opinion and that's what Australians fought for OUR FREEDOM and that includes freedom of speech and the right to express an opinion.

I wouldn't recommend this movie... it was alright, but it was too short, an hour and a half didn't leave any real room for character development. If you want to focus on the unsung heroes of battle the world is unaware of, but is close to so many Australian's hearts you actually need to give those heroes a decent amount of screen time. I liked the inclusion of the "Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels", they deserve to make a showing in a film, unfortunately it was underdone, towards the end where you see them bring the men in, it had the tendency to go straight over the viewers head. The violence was captured well, I did not think it was overdone but the final battle needed to be longer and more climatic, I do not agree with the directors decision to show the films climax as flashbacks while an officer talks about how good Australia is, that would have been more fitting towards the beginning of the film.

The camera was well done, as was most of the acting, none of the average acting is likely to get picked apart, I just felt like quality over quantity was not the case with this movie, it felt a lot more like the director ran out of things to say, which should not have been the case.

It was a moving film, even if it did leave much of its content half baked, but it could have been a lot better as it only scratched the surface of so much of it's content. At the most I would only give this movie a 6-7. Not because what is in it is bad, simple because there is not enough of it and important areas of the content have been skimmed over.