Harrowing Battle a powerful watch

Danger Close: The Battle For Long Tan (R13, 118 mins) Directed by Kriv Stenders Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★

While much has been written and dramatised about Anzac exploits at Gallipoli, little is known about those trans-tasman soldiers who served their countries almost half a century later in Vietnam.

Kriv Stenders’ (Red Dog, Sam Neill’s The Pacific TV series) powerful and poignant new drama aims to put that right, at least when it comes to sharing one against-the-odds survival story.

In August 1966, just over 100 fresh-faced Anzac troops (a combination of conscripts and volunteers, including three Kiwis) encountered a battle-hardened Vietnamese force at least 10 times their size.

Having already underestimated

the might of their opposition, they also found themselves quickly cut off from any rapid outside support as officers feared rushing to their aid would leave their camp vulnerable to attack.

With the situation becoming increasingly desperate, those on the ground resorted to increasingly extreme measures just to stay alive.

Intense, emotional and, at times, harrowing, director Stenders and a screenwriting quintet headed by Stuart Beattie (Tomorrow, When the War Began, TV’S Deadline Gallipoli )doa terrific job with the film’s pacing (time is taken to establish the characters before all hell breaks loose) and placing the audience in the centre of the action.

Their portrayal of the conflict is fairly unflinching (although the sound mix is designed to make you do just that) and like Peter Weir’s Gallipoli and Oliver Stone’s Platoon, Danger Close isn’t afraid to raise moral conundrums and criticise decision making.

Naturally, that does lead to some potentially one-dimensional characters. Even the brilliant Richard Roxburgh can’t make his Brigadier much more than a hissable baddie.

However, those are offset by far more memorable turns by the likes of Hacksaw Ridge’s (the most recent film which Danger Close’s battle scenes perhaps most closely resemble) Luke Bracey and

Vikings’ Travis Fimmel. Fimmel is particularly compelling as hard man Major Harry Smith. Known for pushing his troops to the point of punishment, Fimmel manages to brilliantly, gradually humanise what could have been a shouty stereotype.

So while you can expect the usual soundtrack-driven slo-mo sequences and predictable moments of visceral violence,

Danger Close delivers its devastatingly dramatic story in compelling fashion.