Worth: $14.00
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Cast:
Levi Miller, Travis Jeffrey, Ed Oxenbould, Stephen Peacocke, Myles Pollard
Intro:
… as hopeful and uplifting as you can ask for given the subject matter, offering up an engaging piece of storytelling just in time to commemorate ANZAC day later this month.
Spanning the early days of WW1, when the prospect of peace seemed right around the corner, on through seemingly endless years of mud, blood, and battle, and right up to Armistice, Before Dawn is a glimpse into the ANZAC experience of the Western Front.
In 1916, Jim Collins (Levi Miller) leaves behind his family, his home, and the sheep station that his father expected him to run, chasing glory and honour on the battlefields of France.
Filmed in Western Australia, the dual nature of the outback scenery serves as both the idyllic memory of Jim’s life back home, and the desolate wasteland of barbed wire and mud that becomes the backdrop of his new life.
With sets built to scale and practical pyrotechnics in the place of CGI explosions, director Jordon Prince-Wright does a masterful job of dragging the audience down into the trenches alongside Jim, providing a distinctly Aussie perspective on an otherwise oft-told story.
Predictably, the plot hinges heavily on the concept of camaraderie and mateship, but despite the focus on the soldiers’ heroic actions, the film manages to avoid serving as any kind of recruitment campaign glorifying war. Pain, trauma, and unimaginable loss take their toll on even the most stalwart of characters, and while the battle scenes are impressive in their execution, they’re balanced out by the grimy realities of incessant rain and trench foot.
Where once upon a time the classic Hollywood war film was made up of artfully dishevelled men led by a Steve McQueen or Bruce Willis type, Before Dawn’s cast is made up almost entirely of twentysomethings, most of whom could pass for high-schoolers, hammering home the reality that too many of the lives lost during wartime belonged to boys who were barely old enough to vote, let alone give their lives for King and country. The slow pan of the camera across face after face, wide-eyed with fear at the reality of so much loss and horror, is as sobering as it is heart-wrenching, and the cast does a commendable job of portraying those complicated layers of dread and determination.
Before Dawn is the brainchild of co-writers Jordon Prince-Wright and Jarrad Russell, who also happened to be the visual effects artist on The Decadent and Depraved, Prince-Wright’s 2018 colonial Western. They may not be treading new ground with this foray into the genre, but the film is well-intentioned and has the overall tone of someone’s great-grandfather spinning slightly embellished yarns about his accomplishments during his time in the service. Jim’s good Samaritan values and never-failing courage are about as hopeful and uplifting as you can ask for given the subject matter, offering up an engaging piece of storytelling just in time to commemorate ANZAC day later this month.
