This week’s Flashback Friday is in honour of Anzac Day next week. We take a look at a clip from the 1981 Peter Weir film, Gallipoli.
The critically acclaimed film tapped into our national psyche and explored our identity, the concept of mateship and the waste of young life during World War 1.
The film centres around the friendship of two young soldiers who become mates. The story begins in Western Australia in 1915 where runner Archy Hamilton (played by Mark Lee) and Frank Dunne (played by Mel Gibson) first meet.
The majority of the movie was filmed in South Australia, including cattle station scenes shot at Beltana, the salt lake at Lake Torrens, and with Port Lincoln becoming the battle scenes for the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.
However, the scenes depicting the Battalion in training in Egypt were indeed shot on location in Cairo.
Shown here is a scene where Archy and Frank challenge each other to a race up to the Great Pyramids. The scene, set to the backdrop of ancient lands, depicts the innocence and joviality of the young men before they are brutally confronted with the reality and horror of war.