Through the mud: Kokoda sheds light on the 39th Battalion.

Insight into Kokoda
Kokoda
Jack Finisterer, Travis McMahon, Simon Stone, Luke Ford

IT’S 1942, New Guinea and Australia are at war with Japan.

A patrol from the 39th Battalion has been sent forward outside the perimeter of Isurava, a village on the Kokoda Track.

After sustained bombardment and initial attacks from the Japanese, the patrol is cut off from its supply lines and all communications.

Isolated in the jungle behind enemy lines and to get to safety and the main body, they must make their way back through some of the most unforgiving terrain on Earth.

After three days with no food or sleep, carrying their wounded comrades and suffering the effects of dysentery and malaria, they emerge from the jungle exhausted, but on learning that Isurava is about to fall, they pick themselves up and rejoin the battle.

Based on a true story, this is one of the most confronting films I’ve seen in a long while.

By shooting the whole film on a handheld camera, director Alister Grierson ensures the audience becomes an unseen member of the patrol, reminiscent in a way of the opening minutes of Saving Private Ryan.

Grierson has skilfully managed to capture the sense of fear and anxiety of the patrol members as they move along the track – not knowing if an ambush awaits them around the next bend, a Japanese soldier lurking in the scrub about to launch a banzai charge or a machine-gun nest behind the fallen trees?

It’s not a pretty film – very “un-Hollywood” – but it gives the audience an insight into the horrors the soldiers of the 39th faced along the track, while reinforcing our thoughts and expectations of the Australian Digger; the mateship, leadership and the (very subtle) Aussie sense of humour.

It was very clear that a great deal of research went into the film and the technical (military) advice provided means the characters are very believable.

In part it’s very violent, but it’s what happened on the track; there’s nothing gratuitous, nothing’s embellished.

Don’t expect to see the full story of the Kokoda Track – day one to day last – it’s about a small group of Diggers over a three-day period, and well worth a look.

– LTCOL Grant King