Kokoda [DVD]

If war is ever noble, it’s a nobility related to the defence of precious and endearing things. Valour and courage may be needed to protect hearth, home and loved ones, as few things are more precious than these. The invader, vicious and ruthless, must be repelled.One such invader was the Japanese Imperial Army in the Second World War, its behaviour notorious and barbaric, the usual rules of gentlemanly engagement in war ignored. There was no Geneva Convention for the Japanese. Their pitilessness in war, known as bushido in Japanese, formed the heart of their samurai warrior code. Thus free from moral constraints, butchery and atrocity were acceptable. This even applied to the warrior toward himself. Fail in your task and you dishonour the cause, your failure rendering you useless. In the event, suicide is redemption. Show no mercy. Die for the Emperor and sacred home soil.Faced with such ideological fanaticism, meaning terrorism, the only solution is violent extirpation.The defenders were Australian irregulars, an advanced force sent into the highlands of New Guinea north of Port Moresby to block the path of the oncoming Japanese army. Time and place were critical, the year 1942, the month July. Australia was slow in mobilising, preparing for war. The Japanese were not. The enemy, its eyes on the prize, stood to take everything if not stopped — land, resources, wealth, tactical and logistical superiority. Australia was that prize. So this is the Rubicon — the rugged Owen Stanley Range near the village of Isurava. The enemy must be halted here, or slowed before reinforcements arrive. If not, if Port Moresby falls, all of Australia is threatened.Voiceover at the beginning of the film:“1942. The relentless Japanese war machine rolls down through Southeast Asia. Australia is open to invasion. The Americans, their fleet at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and their eyes turned toward the Philippines, are in no position to help. Ten thousand Japanese make their way up the narrow trail from Kokoda toward us. We are alone.Under the direction of our new colonel we’re digging in at the village of Isurava on the Kokoda track. Weakened by lack of sleep, food and shelter, many of us are exhausted to the point of collapse. We have been here for two weeks — waiting.We’re told the Australian army will be here to relieve us soon. They are called the AIF [Australian Imperial Force]. We’re called chocos — volunteers sent to New Guinea to unload ships and dig roads. Chocolate soldiers. The AIF assumes we will melt in the heat of battle. They are probably right.Untrained, ill-equipped, riddled with dysentery and malaria, we’re the only men available to make a stand against the Japanese. They outnumber us 10 to 1 and will attack any day now. We are lambs to the slaughter.”The fight is predictable, as advertised — awful, intense, relentless, miserable. But at first the enemy is invisible. They are chameleons, green and brown, silent and motionless, twigs and leaves and branches stuck to them. Out of nowhere they will strike.They do.Chaos. Confusion. Disorientation. In the heat of battle one choco panics, retreats, flees. He hides in the jungle under a log. He stays put there for a long time, thinking he is safe. He is not. He is killed gruesomely, a bayonet plunged into his face.Another choco is captured, tied to a tree, used for bayonet practice then beheaded with a sword.The situation is impossible: the terrain, jungle vegetation, lack of landmarks. Some chocos become separated from their battalion — the 39th. There are a half dozen of them. We follow them in their attempt to survive.We get lost too, trying to gauge their movements in the dense undercover. The handheld steadicams are not so steady, nor are they always so focused. We feel the terror the chocos feel, isolated, cut off, surrounded by the enemy. The terrain, climate, conditions are unforgiving. The hills and mountains are steep and muddy. The tropical skies open up in torrents. The leeches and mosquitoes are large and hungry. Day in and out it’s the same: hot, sticky, humid.Subtitles would help us too, but no. This is war. Cock your ears and try to catch the fast and garbled Aussie lingo, often whispered. Not that dialogue matters much when bullets fly and grenades explode. We live in the visceral, tactile, intense moment. Conversation belongs at the dinner table.The wonder is how they did it. Four words perhaps describe their feat. These are chiselled into the stone memorial at Isurava: COURAGE ENDURANCE MATESHIP SACRIFICEThe AIF arrive. The chocos are relieved. They fall back to the dressing station. Most are wounded. Not all will survive. Those standing are assembled in the mud outside the dressing station. The colonel of the battalion has come up the track and wants to address the men. He does, his voice trembling with suppressed emotion. It’s possible your eyes may not be dry as he speaks:“Now, I don’t know a lot of you by name. But I know you. We fought every step of the way here. Now we are relieved and will leave the battle. Every day the enemy’s supply line stretches further. He suffers now as you have suffered. This battle to hold the track has just saved your nation.The Brigadier wants you to know that your gallantry, your courage, your fortitude are an inspiration. And I want you to know that you were some of the finest soldiers I have ever seen. You have seen things in this place no man should witness. Some of these things you must forget. History will remember you, and in the years to come others will wish they had your conviction… I am honoured to be your brother.”Message written at the end of the film:“The Japanese, their supply lines stretched to the breaking point, were forced to retreat within sight of Port Moresby, their goal. It was the first time in the Second World War the Japanese army had been stopped.Australia would not be invaded.”Odd to say, perhaps, that a war film can have tremendous heart and compassion, even gentleness. Yet this one does despite the ferocity of the violence it depicts.As expected, the film found no distribution rights in Japan. Instead, the Japanese retain their own view. They have Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo to honour their war dead, a place of almost mystical veneration in the psyches of some, especially the fascist right-wing, still alive and well in modern Japan. Like Dracula, or maybe roaches too, some things just can’t be killed off.History for some is a treasure to be learned from; for others, a utilitarian thing to distort.

A brilliant conceived and realised depiction of the 1942 Kokoda Trail fighting in New Guinea. The film concerns itself with a small group of Australian militia cut off by a rapid and stunningly filmed Japanese attack and their subsequent efforts to rejoin their comrades. The sub-plot of two brothers who become separated is weaker but adequately accomplished. Visually breathtaking, beautifully filmed and admirably capturing the terrible conditions of the New Guinea campaign, particularly the terrain and the climate, it is a real pity that this superb film is not better known outside Oz. It compares favourably with The Thin Red Line and in some aspects is a much superior film. It is very much a 'tactical' film, recreating visually the writing style of Stephen Crane or Conrad where the experiences and senses of individuals are explored without labouring the context of their situation. There is nothing of the strategy or politics of command in New Guinea; the film does not reflect the US/Australian command tensions or the US-subordinate politics endemic in the high command of the Australian Army at the time. This absence of any juxtaposition to the sufferings of the Diggers actually fighting the Japanese tends to make the film slightly claustrophobic but this experience itself reflects the terribly hard slog these infantrymen faced. The costumes and technical aspects of the weaponry are brilliantly handled and very convincing. The obvious use of heavily camouflaged caucasians to play some Japanese soldiers is disappointing, as is the failure to fully represent their terrifying night calls and dirge-like singing before attacks. The rapid movement through the jungle by the attacking Japanese is captured in distant and fleeting images, communicating something of the tension and fear in facing these fiercesomely ruthless warriors. The cinematography is superb, with wonderful evocations of mood, light, weather and time of day. The incredible golden glow of the setting sun on the Aussies as they prepare for the first Japanese attack radiates their anticipation and fear of the coming darkness. The sudden torrential downpours of tropical rain and the inescapable wet chill of the jungle nights are also wonderfully conveyed. As a war film this is amongst the best; as a tribute to the very courageous young Australians who fought the conquering Japanese to a standstill in the mountains of New Guinea it is a sobering and thought-provoking masterpiece. It baffles me why this superb film is not as well-known or as praised as other genre films such as that over-rated Fenian mawk-fest 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley'. Kokoda is well worth the effort to obtain (this is the original Australian version and it is now more widely available here as  Kokoda - 39th Battalion [DVD ) and is very highly recommended.

This film tries very hard to go for the 'gritty realism' style of war film, as the characters squelch ankle-deep in mud (and worse), covered in insect bites, leeches and grime. Made to honour the sacrifices of the men who fought and died to save Australia from a Japanese invasion in 1942, it is a worthy effort. The battle scenes are brutal and well-realised, depicting the fear, chaos and confusion (no Rambo-like heroics here) as bullets whizz past. The enemy are barely seen. Men cower in foxholes, some run rather than fight, others find their courage or become the natural leaders. The authentic accuracy of equipment and uniforms is very good.The jungle itself is a main character, it is alive, crawling with life, the men spend much of their time fighting the environment - soaked by rain, lost in mists, eaten alive by creepy-crawliesPlot-wise it is a straight forward 'lost patrol' scenario, a small group is cut-off behind enemy lines, they must survive and get back. Nothing new there, but in this small, personal story of a few men it works just fine.Character is were the film is ultimately let down. I found I didn't care enough about the men and their grisly fates. By the time I had got an understanding of who was who (men in the same uniforms are difficult to differentiate) many had already been killed. The film lacks emotional weight, but is still a worthy effort, far superior to many larger budget WW2 films (Windtalkers, Pearl Harbour, U-571).Comparable to Paths of Glory or Brotherhood, it will certainly have place in my war films collection.