The story takes place on a film set in World War I. It is about two close friends : Frank (Gibson) and Archy (Mark Lee) who join the Australian army and fight in deadly battles. What danger must they face for survival?
Weir's work has a delicacy, gentleness, even wispiness that would seem not well suited to the subject. And yet his film has an uncommon beauty, warmth, and immediacy, and a touch of the mysterious, too.
Filmcritic.com
October 11, 2005
Weir goes so far in humanizing Archy and Frank before they head off to the dehumanizing crucible of combat that he commits the greatest sin of all... he's boring
Matt's Movie Reviews
July 07, 2010
Gallipoli is Australia's quintessential war movie that works as a stirring tribute to the ANZAC's and a condemnation of the travesty which is war.
One of the best war films ever made....a triumph for the AFI
Turner Classic Movies Online
November 18, 2010
... deflated the romantic notions of glory under fire to show the reality of Gallipoli and mourn the men who gave up their lives for a war they had no stake in.
Set in 1915, Weir's excellent anti-war film centers on the disastrous battle of Gallipoli, featuring an excellent performance by Mel Gibson as a young fleet-footed soldier
Both a fitting testimony to the courage of the thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who died fighting for their country and one of the most powerful cinematic examinations of the futility and tragic cost of war.
