Gallipoli (2005 film)

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Gallipoli
Directed by	Tolga Örnek
Written by	Tolga Örnek
Starring	(narrating) Sam Neill (as himself), Zafer Ergin (as himself), Demetri Goritsas, Jeremy Irons
Release date(s)	2005
Running time	90 min
Language	English, Turkish

Gallipoli (Turkish title Gelibolu) is a 2005 film by Turkish filmmaker Tolga Örnek. It is a documentary on the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli, narrated by both sides, Turks, and British soldiers and ANZACs.

Through the use of surviving diaries and letters of the soldiers, the film shows the bravery and the suffering on both sides. For this film Tolga Örnek has been awarded an honorary medal in the general division of the Order of Australia.[1].

While the production is excellent, the makers introduced two items which had nothing to do with the story.

1. The first deals with the training of the Light Horsemen. A small clip was shown with the commentary that the clip relates to Light Horse training prior to going to Gallipoli. In fact the film clip shown is of the 8th ALHR [Australian Light Horse Regiment] putting on a show for the cameras near Heliopolis on Wednesday, 23 February 1916. The irony was that the 8th ALHR was virtually wiped out during the charge at the Nek. Few men in the film clip were at Gallipoli the year before.

2. There is a photograph of a Turkish machine gun with crew purporting to be taken at Gallipoli. The flat ground is inconsistent with Gallipoli. Indeed the photograph also appears in Volume VII of the Official Australian War History - Gullett, HS, "Sinai and Palestine" - dealing with Rafa in January 1917.

The Film

Gallipoli is unique in world history: it is not just a battle; it is also an epic tale of courage, self-sacrifice and stubborn endurance. It is also a story of enemies who displayed mutual respect during the battle and who became friends after it. No battle has forged such strong comradeship and everlasting peace in its aftermath. On the shores of Gallipoli, Australia and New Zealand became nations and Turkey embarked on its journey to become a republic from the ruins of an empire.

The film will revolve around few soldiers: Turks, Anzacs, and British. It will trace their lives before, during, and after the war, but particularly during. The whole battle, its effects on world history, the general strategy and the leaders of both sides will be portrayed around the personal stories of these six soldiers.

To make the film as universal as possible we have an international team of reserachers in Turkey, Australia, UK, New Zealand, Germany, France, and Russia. We believe that what we have found so far on the Turkish side and continue to unearth are the aspects that will make the film unique. No film has addressed the Turkish side in detail and explained how the Turks dealt with the harsh conditions of the battle and how they planned for and coped with the Allied offensive. But this will not be a “Turkish” film. We believe that the material we have found on the Turkish side will only form a good companion to the rich archives of the allied perspective and help us present a more balanced and objective account of the conflict.

The film will be completed by March 18, 2005 when it will premiere in Istanbul, Turkey in conjunction with the campaign’s 90th anniversary. We would like to follow this up with subsequent premieres in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Germany, and the US. We are also exploring ways to make the film’s screening part of the official ceremonies at Gallipoli on April 25th, 2005.