A "Johnny Turk" here, as they say in the movie, just watched the movie and I am very much under the effect of it. I loved the movie, I think they portrayed the senselessness of the war very effectively without making any side the villain. As obvious to anyone watching the movie, the Australians were the victims in the truest sense of the word. They died so needlessly for a cause that was not their own. When I was a kid my mother would always tell me that they were tricked into joining the war thinking they would get to see Europe. So the sentiment in Turkey about Australians and New Zealanders has been favoring them. It was never "what were they doing here!!!! :@" but it was "what were they doing here :(((((" and we love it that Australians still care so much that they come back to visit the land every year in scores whereas I am ashamed to say I haven't been to Gallipoli yet. One thing not so obvious from the movie is that just as it was not the Australians' war to fight, it was not the Turks' war to fight either. In the movie they keep referring to the Ottoman Empire as Turkey. It may seem small but it is a crucial difference because the very reason that Turks took part in the war was because some blind ottoman officers could not face the truth, couldn't see that Ottoman Empire was living its final days and they were blinded by the prospect of the "good old days" that they had to drag the country down with their grandiosity complex.
Ataturk was in Gallipoli. After everything he said these words that have been embraced by the Turks towards our Anzac brothers: "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours... You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land, they have become our sons as well."
