Commandos de l'ombre

Based on the true story of how a platoon of Australian soldiers tunneled under enemy soil during World War I, 'Beneath Hill 60' recounts a slice of wartime history not often told. Most noteworthy is how the film does not just depict battles and explosions, but also the squalid living conditions and claustrophobic surrounds of the soldiers. There is a particularly effective struggle as two Germans invade the tunnel; the scene takes place in pitch black darkness for nearly a whole minute after a lamp is knocked out. Another memorable sequence features disquieting sound effects as a soldier realises that an explosion has deafened him. The film is unusually structured with several flashbacks to the main soldier's pre-war life woven into the mix. Brendan Cowell is solid as the soldier in question and the flashbacks serve well to pinpoint why he felt a need to fight (pressure, expectations, etc), however, they also break up the intensity and immediacy of the trench/tunnel action. Cowell's romance with a teenage girl half his age also makes for an odd inclusion as their age disparity is very prominent (by all accounts this is accurate though). Whatever the case, 'Beneath Hill 60' works almost all the time when focused on the trench/tunnel action. A constant sense of danger lingers in the air, and yet at the same time the film portrays the ability of camaraderie to also develop in adverse conditions.