Forbidden Ground (2013)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is a very well done World War I picture. But it also is a complete downer. The first war was a bloody and stupid affair with thousands upon thousands of senseless and needless deaths. But that doesn't mean the movie has to be as grim as the war. There are no moments of dramatic relief, no lighter moments. Even the flashbacks to home are dark and morose. In essence this is a straightforward story of three British soldiers, commanded by a snobbish officer-twit, who become stranded in no man's land. Nothing very original there. However the staging and the photography are grimly effective and capture the utter horror of the trenches. But I question why one of the three stranded British soldiers speaks like an American. And why did the Aussies put so much effort into a film about the "pommies" when it would have been just as effective if the soldiers had been Australian.

I don't remember the last time I watched a movie as bad as this. The action sequences are poor. There was no bond between the audience and the actors. I didn't much care which ones lived and which ones died. From the beginning to the end, the accents were terrible (especially the Irish accent - although I knew there was something off with the others too). I should have read the IMDb info before watching this movie and then I would have figured out that it was an Aussie movie with no Irish or English actors in this production. Anyway, Im not going to waste any more time on this movie. Its 1hr 40mins of my life that I wont ever get back again. A total waste of time. I was Bored to death.

Well, colour me shocked. A low budget film, set mostly on the battlefield of WW1 in France after and during a major conflict turns out to be not half bad. The opening sequence, which features the infamous battle charge so favoured by overstuffed generals who did nothing more brave than sip tea behind the lines, leads to all the soldiers mown down by German machine guns... save for three. Lions, led by donkeys indeed.One is a born leader, another young and impetuous, the final survivor has lost a leg. If they ditched him, it would be much easier to escape the trenches under surveillance by an enemy desperate to wipe them all out... but of course, the idea of abandoning one of their 'band of brothers' is out the question. If only we could all be so noble...Running parallel to this, is the head of the trio's wife back in England finding out she's pregnant by another man. Plagued by bad dreams about what he may do to her when he finds out, she opts for a back street abortion... With predictable consequences. The way these events factor into the finale is ironic to say the least, but it does provide for a powerful ending.It efficiently captures the claustrophobia that the men must have felt in those terrible conditions, and the distinct characterisations of our three leads held my attention, even when there was not much else going on. The effects, from mortar explosions to mustard gas, pass scrutiny too. For the money it must have cost to make, with a no-name cast, Jolly Good Show All Round I'd say, chappies. 6/10

Few films in comparison to the number of those examining other armed human conflicts have provided a look at the hopeless blood soaked, mud clogged trenches of the First World War and fewer still have lent voice to the courage, will and love for their fellow soldiers of the men who followed without question orders which amounted to voluntary mass suicide in a hell scorched land far from the blessed sight of their most beloved.Johan Earl and Adrian Powers have in 'Forbidden Ground' crafted the viewer such a window into one of the darkest periods of the 20th century. Their film movingly throws us into the trenches of the British Army and its portrayal of the raging machine of war as it grounds young terrified men into its only product - something much different than they were before, alive or dead. The film seizes the senses and raises tension from scene to scene.The plot forwards the stories of two British married couples; the men at war while the women walk trancelike, waiting through the motions of a special hell of their own for word that their spouses still live. The two story lines unfold against the backdrop of their individual struggles for survival and preservation of sanity which tragically become more difficult when their lives intersect. Surrounding them all is the War and distance, time and pain of absence.Sergeant Major Arthur Wilkins played by Johan Earl and Corporal Richard Jennings played by Martin Copping are men hardened and desensitized as they are ruined and broken by their years in the maw of combat. Both are fair, natural leaders who care for the men they command, but they've lost their identities, they've forgotten what their lives were like before the War began. Indeed, the surreal daily ballet of carnage their lives have become leaves them with weakening connection to the women they married and eventually sees them becoming brothers in arms trapped in a situation neither will ever completely escape.Grace Wilkins, wife of Arthur played by Denai Gracie and Eve Rose, fiancé or wife of Corporal Jennings are the ones their men left behind. Nightmares of Arthur's rejection of her upon his return plague Grace, and for aid with the condition she faces which could hurt her husband more even than the terrors of war, she feverishly seeks aid and finds its only source in Eve. Eve has suffered her man's absence as much as Grace, and in so genuinely needing to aid her causes irrevocable harm.The film is a war movie, and it is also a tragic drama which explores the consequences of meetings between average people who find themselves already connected in ways they never could have imagined. The historical accuracy of the period is spot on as are the booming, ground churning scenes of battle of which there are several. For the budget available, the film makers did a great job although the continuity and viewer perception of the size of outdoor spaces sometimes feel askew and not to scale.'Forbidden Ground' is a gritty, visceral war film wrapped around a touching story driven by characters with many shades of depth. Their reactions and solutions to the horrible situations they find themselves in is compelling and this viewer found himself only wishing they could get through it all and have the opportunity to heal, together - reunited at last.I highly recommend 'Forbidden Ground' to the fan of war films as World War I remains a blemish on history mostly glossed over by popular fiction. The period equipment, weapons and dress on the battlefield and off are well reproduced, and the actors who portray the interesting characters inhabiting this study of the chilling effects of war on its victims - war makes all of us its victims - are worthy of the viewers time and praise. For most every other mature moviegoer the film is also a worthwhile watch: the tragically intersecting fates of these characters will reach you on some level.8/10