Battle Ground

A poignant film. Beautifully told, and I thought Denai (actress) was superb. I absolutely loved the womens storyline. As a girl, War films are not something I generally race out to see. But this film was recommended to me, and I was not disappointed. This is a war story with a difference, instead of focusing on the scale of war which has been done to death, Forbidden Ground tells the story from ground level. They create an awesome claustrophobic feeling, which is always how I envisaged soldiers on the front line would have felt. Having to keep your head down all the time!! The film captured the very essence of not only the tragedies on the battlefield, but the tragedies at home too. Utterly memorable.

Forbidden Ground is an Australian-made rendition of the plight of British soldiers trapped in no-man's land, and should have been the war epic it was (once) anticipated to be. The unfortunate truth is that it falls short of all expectations, and as a patriotic Australian I take no pleasure in saying it.

From the first moments the small budget is apparent. Close-ups try and disguise the limited scale of the production. The battles in the film are all no more than small skirmishes and never really produced with any flair, impact, or suspense. The constant reliance on CGI for special effects cripples the action, unlike it's predecessor Beneath Hill 60 - which it will surely be compared to - which used mostly practical visual effects and captures gritty violence effectively. As such, when the horror of trench warfare comes along in this film, it is woefully un- engaging, and downright boring in parts. I felt no connection with the men going to their deaths. The obvious computer-generated explosions and squibs left a lot to be desired and had no "punch." It's an anti-war film, as most WWI films are, so you would expect a focus on correctly portraying the shocking waste of war, but Forbidden Ground lacks the budget or know-how to do it properly.

There are some tired clichés including snobby, arrogant officers and the hard-nosed NCO, and while historically accurate in some ways, Forbidden Ground doesn't cast the roles with conviction, simply recycling scenes and minor characters from a dozen better war films. The other problem with authenticity is that most of the cast is Australian, and while our accents may be more or less similar and we often are mistaken for Poms, the actors on show here can't quite make it sound natural and every line feels laborious and forced. If they'd just spoken with their normal accents they would probably have sounded more comfortable with their characters, but alas every Pommy soldier on screen sounds like a caricature of British stereotypes.

Another problem with authenticity is that the unit that is focused on seems to be an amalgamation of British accents. Whether intentional or by accident, units were formed from specific locales (universities, rugby clubs, towns, cities, etc) and would only occasionally be mixed with troops from broadly different locations (casualty replacements).

So the end result is a disappointing straight-to-DVD war drama without any magnetism or flair. I praise the cast and crew for doing what they could to commemorate the war, but I can't recommend Forbidden Ground as good viewing. Better luck next time.

Some good effects and filmed scenes for the budget. But for god sake either have australian actors play australian soldiers or use British actors for british soldiers. The terible accents destroyed any ability to take the actors seriously. Also the germans did not usually spend all night plastering trenches with machine gun fire and artillery just to pick off the odd British wounded straggler! There was some honor amongst soldiers

Dramatically the movie held my interest and it takes a realism aspect to do this. But then I saw a major goof when a soldier's watch was revealed to have a quartz works. I moves second by second with jerks, not gently. How hard would it be to find a vintage watch? So it lost a star from this anachronism and I found the rest of the movie more difficult to watch as a reality trip.

The acting, however, was very good, although the marriage sub plot seemed a space saver, not an asset. As a genre type, this was an anti war movie that really takes no sides and that is a plus. The best war movies show the reasons not to have them and that really brings out the dramatic effects.

If you can get past the watch thing, then go ahead with my recommendations.

Forbidden Ground – Battle Ground in other parts of the world – is a must see. The film pushes you - clue: a giant fishhook, you'll know it when you see it – finding a balance between reality and heroism that is exceptionally well carried by the cast. Unlike most films of it's genre, war and violence are not glorified as they are deconstructed. The characters build a convincing and consuming narrative that makes this more than just your average war film. Forbidden Ground proves that war in film is should not be simply well framed explosions – although those that are fans of a good detonation will not be disappointed – but a collection of heartbreaking and precious stories of survival, difficult choices, and perseverance. It is at heart a piece about people, and does not shy away from holding a mirror to battlefield politics and loss of innocence. Visually Forbidden Ground is sleek and where there are some visual effects that are noticeable, they do not intrude on the flow. All in all, Forbidden Ground is a fantastic effort and a quality production, and deserves all the international attention it is getting, and more!