Alan Below

Years ago , I had high hopes for the movie, “Kokoda”, but it turned out to be a low budget, poorly scripted flick, with city-boy actors who lacked any sense of bushcraft, and did not know how to handle their weapons. The script was full of modern slang which did not exist in the early forties, and it did not ring true. Along comes “Danger Close”, the story of Long Tan. Once again, the movie suffers from poorly thought-out scenarios, and a bunch of second-rate actors, each overplaying their role or over-acting in some way. Those handling rifles looked unfamiliar with their weapons, and everyone of the actors had watched a little too much Hollywood stuff, and the realism of the movie suffered for it. The fake rain was laughable, as the sun was shining on the scenes throughout. Before the rain, when everyone should have had wet armpits and backs and a sweaty brow, every actor was bone dry. No one even thought to throw a bucket of water on anyone to simulate sweat. What really bothered me was that almost nobody took cover behind trees rocks or logs during battle scenes. With bullets and shrapnel flying all around, you would adopt a spot behind any available shelter you could find. Our guys were pictured lying in the open in full view. When the platoons met up, they suddenly stood up to hug each other, presenting fine targets. This is outrageous! When moving through the bush, they were close together, an easy target and a big no-no. The last bloke in the bunch scans behind the formation to present a rear guard. This was not done. I am not army-trained and could spot all of these errors. A real soldier watching this would have winced at the errors. I feel this movie falls well-short of honouring the deeds of our diggers. But that’s just my opinion.