Kokoda is not perfect. Nor is Beneath Hill 60. What they share is being 21st century Australian war movies. With a miniscule budget, both crafted a realistic but reverent portrait of accidental heroes on strange Queensland sets, Tamborine and Townsville respectively. Malick did an overblown Hollywood $50million extravaganza in Mossman a couple of years beforehand, proving all war is pointless. Sorry, Terrence, but you are dead wrong. Civilisation is worth protecting. I had no idea this was Alister Grierson's first outing. It seems so much more accomplished. There is a script waiting for you- Peter Ryan's "Fear Drive My Feet".

I honestly cannot believe some of the reviews I have read here about this movie and most of them are by Australians! When it comes to downplaying our history and not giving thanks to the men and women whose sacrifices actually have allowed us the benefit of being able to give an opinion without being dragged from our beds and executed, I honestly used to think Canada held the distinction for being number one, but you guys take the cake.People wanting this to be more like "Saving Private Ryan" or calling it a Propagandist movie? REALLY? The person who said that we should not be bringing up some of the war atrocities by the Japanese really needs to buy a reality check. World War II was not pleasant, it was not what Hollywood made it out to be in the 50's and 60's and the most brutal examples of inhumanity happened in the Pacific Theater, including brutality to the Winnipeg Rifles (Canadians captured while defending Hong Kong) I knew nothing about this engagement before seeing this movie and all I can say is if something like this had happened between U.S. troops and the Japanese there would be hundreds of books and movies regaling us all with the magnificent heroics of the men involved.My hat is off to the first-time director who managed to pull this together and tell a story that REALLY needs to be told. Watching a movie like this or reading a book about it is in a way, an opportunity for the viewer or reader to say THANK YOU to the men that served.To those of you, especially those of you from Australia, who had your sensibilities hurt by it and gave it a low rating, SHAME on you! The movie is worthy of watching if for no other reason than learning about some of the history of World War II.

Bad for potential it has. Good actors, excellent camera and smart shots, pretty real soldiers and great war story from WWII! However, nothing is used well to make a film story. There is none to keep your attention. Just group of soldiers moving from spot A to B. Then, there is no drama depiction on any of the characters. The movie even doesn't give you any role to follow, everything is uniformed just like the army. Don't understand the director. I can't see why would someone follow the story unless great Australian patriot. Feature film should be different from documentary for the reason of good and all calculated plot composition. I can't remember I have ever seen a bad Australian film. There is always the first time I guess. Once again, film is saved by very good film stage, so it gets 5 of 10 if you ask me. Just to underline that this grade is pretty strict for the standards of this site.

It's funny that the ending of this film has been criticised here as unrealistic and melodramatic. One commenter even said it was of "Neighbours" (soap opera) quality.In fact the final scene is an exact reconstruction of a parade of members of the 39th battalion before their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Honner at the village of Menari. Every word spoken by William McInnes (playing Honner) in this scene is taken from the official record of the proceedings on that day.So much for "Neighbours".The film is good without being great. The budget supplies the reason. What it does convey is the hostile terrain over which the Australian soldiers had to lug all their supplies, including heavy artillery pieces... and then they had to fight the Japanese, who heavily outnumbered them, when they reached the top of the ranges.These were part-time soldiers, reservists with inferior training and green troops for the most part. Their job was to hold the line until the professional veterans (back from North Africa) arrived to take over. It was a war fought in platoon and section strength, with few pitched battles. Ever since the survivors of the two reserve battalions have been called "The Ragged Bloody Heroes", and deservedly so.Recently these has been some revisionism among politically biased historians, claiming that Kokoda was a waste of time and effort; that the Japanese had no intention of invading Australia. While they may not have been as serious about Kokoda as they were regarding the developing disaster at Gualalcanal, one thing is certain: if the Japanese had not been held back on the Kokoda Track, taking Port Moresby would have been a prize too easily won to refuse. Taking Moresby, and perhaps then Australia could have changed not only the war in the South West Pacific area, but perhaps the whole course of WW2.The men of the 39th battalion had no opportunity to speculate from afar, and safety, on the political potential of Kokoda as relevant to 2006 politics. They had to fight and die where they stood. That is why their story is worth telling, a story of small groups of men fighting shadows in a jungle nightmare scenario, without the option of surrender.