User Reviews

I recently saw "Revealing Gallipoli" on the History Channel and was deeply impressed with all aspects of its 90 minute production.

"Revealing Gallipoli" uses three presenters to tell the story from an Australian, an Irish and a Turkish perspective. The narrative seamlessly inter-cuts between a global overview of the campaign and small, deeply personal elements that convey the human side of the tragedy.

Without diminishing the contributions of the other presenters, I found the contribution of the Turkish presenter, Savas Karakas, to be absolutely outstanding. Karakas is (according to the Melbourne Age) a "major Turkish TV celebrity" and he is clearly a talented and experienced presenter. His presentation is constantly engaging and passionate, despite English not being his native language.

"Revealing Gallipoli" is also very evenly balanced and shows both sides of the fight - something few other documentaries of this doomed campaign have ever achieved. I confess I was initially a little shocked at the ANZACs being constantly referred to as "the enemy", but Karakas really conveys the passionate determination and profound dignity of the Turkish people who were simply defending their homeland.

As a side-note, if you're an ardent supporter of the WWI British High Command then you might not enjoy this very much, as the documentary squarely lays all the blame for the catastrophe with Churchill, Kitchener and Hamilton.

I've since tried to obtain a DVD version but for some absurd reason it is only being sold at $90 a copy. This is a stupid decision by the production house which prevents a wider distribution of what is an excellent documentary.

'The tone is poetic and elegiac. A complex appropriately brooding meditation about nationhood, morality, loss and politics. Fimeri works with a poetic restraint, he builds a rhythm that is the heartbeat of the experience, a kind of stream of consciousness in which one image, or thought, evokes another in the patch of tortured land where the legends began.' —

The Australian

'On television, history is no longer just history; it is 'living history'. The story of Gallipoli, though inherently dramatic, was brought vividly to life. One thing that television history can do with some effort, and which this documentary did well, is to give the sense of a mindset of a time. At times it was a little like a Shakespeare play.' —

Irish Times

'On the eve of the annual observance of defeat made glorious by heroes, this his conspicuously honest film is a detailed, absorbing chronicle, a compelling examination of the Gallipoli campaign.' —

Sydney Morning Herald. Show of the week

'It is impossible not to get caught up in the raw emotion of this story and wonder at the callousness of the high command and the bravery of their men. This is a brilliant compilation of a battle featuring both sides of the conflict. The canvas for this story is massive and the writer has brilliantly brought the drama into sharp focus to capture a depth of heroism and the tragedy on both sides. The narration is particularly fine.' —

Queensland Premiers Literary Awards

A marvelous documentary that captures the gravity of the tragedy with intelligence and a gratifying lack of parochialism. Unlike many contemporary military documentaries that seek to bring alive their subjects by resorting to empty re-enactments and computer generated trickery, Revealing Gallipoli has the confidence to rely on well grounded research and the power of the spoken word. A fine televisual achievement.' —

The Age

'This docudrama script demonstrates the writer's ability to delve into our nation's history and present us with an imaginative interpretation of events that is resoundingly authoritative. The story of Gallipoli has been told countless times, to the point where it has been etched into our national psyche. But what really happened? What were the disastrous and often insane decisions that led to this tragedy? Who were the soldiers that paid the ultimate price for this folly? What did they think, what did they feel, what did they understand about what was happening? These and many other questions are explored and answered in Wain Fimeri's innovative work.' —

The Village Roadshow Prize for Screen Writing