The ANZAC story is an intrinsic part of Australia’s filmic DNA and, for the 20th century, was a high-water mark for its cultural identity.
The legacy of the soldiers of World War I has held a tight grip on Australian stories told on the big screen for over a hundred years, with none looming larger than Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1981). It is in the monolithic shadow of that film that most others on the subject fall under, and that’s no different with Jordan Prince-Wright’s Before Dawn.
The film centres on Jim Collins (Red Dog and Jasper Jones actor Levi Miller), a country lad who leaves his father’s sheep station to follow his friends into the Great War in search of adventure, pay and opportunities beyond the farm. Expecting it only to last another six months, the war would go on for another three years. Trudging through mud, rats and more mud, Collins loses friends and forms close bonds with those that survive, often stepping up beyond the call of duty across several of Australia’s greatest victories of WW1. It’s an ANZAC story straight from a biscuit tin lid.
Before Dawn is Jordan Prince-Wright’s second feature film as director, and there is certainly some cinematic competence on display. The action sequences are filled with tension and are genuinely engaging, even thrilling. The sound design is excellent, with the constant boom of mortars in the background and the whistle of bullets flying by keeping a somatic pulse throughout. Any time we get wide shots filled with hundreds of extras marching along the French lines or have practical effects of dirt and smoke plumes filling the sky, you forget that this is a small production. Though, like the flares over no-man’s land, these moments of brilliance are fleeting.
Levi Miller admirably leads the cast as Jim, doing his best with the material given, though he is never quite able to rise above it. Nevertheless, he brings a steady hand from the weight of experience, having starred in several Hollywood productions (Pan, A Wrinkle in Time, the upcoming Kraven the Hunter). Miller has such a striking look that it is hard to take your eyes off him, and it seems likely that he will continue to rise in the same vein as Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis, The Power of the Dog). It’s always wonderful to see a rising star returning home to support an independent Australian feature.
Unfortunately, the cast is underserved by a script that lacks strong characterisation and emotional arcs. Jim’s best mates – a key motivation for him joining the war – are killed in no-man’s land in a very early skirmish in the film. Their deaths leave Jim with a sense of guilt that haunts him for the rest of the film and drives his actions. The shame is that it’s hard for us to hold onto the same emotional thread Jim’s pulling as we spend so little time with them, and they are so thinly drawn. It’s here that archetypes or even cliches could be employed more prominently to give us something to hold onto. Instead, we’re left with wishy-washy cutouts of characters that get lost in a sea of faces and the three-year timeline the film covers.
The standout of the cast is Home & Away’s Tim Franklin, playing Big Tooth (though I wouldn’t have known the character’s name without going to the credits). Often nestling his pet rat in the trenches, Franklin shines whenever he’s on screen, injecting a welcome dose of personality and charisma into the cavalcade of white Aussie faces that often blend into one another.
Prince-Wright Productions is the largest independent Western Australian production company, and what they have created is to be commended, rallying whole communities to get this film made on the scale they have and putting a light on many young Australian actors – though it’s a shame we don’t see the representation of any First Nations stories here, who were enlisted towards the end of the war, a continuation of POC erasure in Australian 20th-century war stories.
Though its reach may have exceeded its grasp, Before Dawn is steps above other films of its ilk. It’s ambitious – something that is desperately needed in the Australian film landscape – and although Before Dawn doesn’t rise beyond the trenches, I look forward to seeing what this team does next.
Fun Fact:
An explosion to replicate a Barrage was so big it caused 2.8 on the richter scale.
COMMENTS