A new anti-war film, Gallipoli, starts its theatrical run in London on September 16, 2005, according to an officials statement quoted by Pr Newswire.

Gallipoli is the result of a 6-year effort which was produced in seven different countries.
Written and directed by the award winning Turkish director Tolga Örnek, the film has been researched in more than 70 archives in Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, Austria, New Zealand and Turkey and more than 20 international historians have been consulted.
To make the story as objective and historically accurate as possible the film has been produced in association with the Australian War Memorial, Imperial War Museum, New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the Çanakkale Naval Museum.


It had all started as a simple demonstration in January of 1915. The British-French fleet would attack the Dardanelles, sail through to the Ottoman Capital, Istanbul, and knock the Ottoman Empire, their enemy and Germany's ally, out of the war.
When the naval attack failed, the British Government decided to land troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula to capture the shore defenses to enable the navy's passage. This decision led to one of the largest landing operations in history and one of the bloodiest and controversial battles of World War I. It changed nations forever.

To capture the story of the campaign and the experience of the soldiers, Gallipoli tells the story simultaneously from the perspectives of all sides involved, and sets out to show the human dimension within the general structure of the battle.
The story is told through the personal letters and diaries of 2 British, 2 Turkish, 3 Australian, and 3 New Zealand soldiers. The film portrays the historical importance of Gallipoli based on facts and from the perspectives of these soldiers who are representative of the thousands of soldiers from both sides. It is the story of ordinary men forced by history to do extraordinary things. The courage which they faced hardships, and the sacrifices they made are brought to life through their own words. It is their common experience and their story.

The war itself is the only enemy in this film.




"Gallipoli" is also the title of a 1981 film, directed by Peter Weir, which tells the story of a group of young Australian men who leave their various backgrounds behind and sign up to join the ANZACs in World War I.

They are sent to Gallipoli, where they encounter the might of the Turkish army.

The cast of Weir's movie included: Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins, Charles Lathalu Yunipingli, Heath Harris, Ron Graham, Gerda Nicolson, Mel Gibson, Robert Grubb, Tim McKenzie and David Argue.