Before Dawn

This is a decent movie, broadly accurate although with a couple of clangers - some of the colloquialisms are post-2000, not post-1900. The back-and-forth cuts sort of work - they help tell the story, if using an obvious and well-tried method. Life in the trenches is convincing, although the 'cold' scenes did not seem quite cold enough - there's a moment of shaking, but what of being soaked through for days on end, in near freezing conditions? In some respects, the story of the misery of life in the trenches has been told (All Quiet On The Western Front), but it can never be told too many times. The acting and dialogue was understated but, I think, in keeping - Australians are not Americans. And for the idiot who wanted more battle scenes, war tends to be about long periods of boredom and discomfort interspersed with brief moments of unheroic and usually not very spectacular terror. Hollywood may have taught us something different but, with very few exceptions, it is wrong. 7/10.

My great grand father was a stretcher berar for the 44th and I have a lot of history with this unit. This movie did not do any justice and did not include anything the medics or other people did. The 44th did a raid one night my great grand father went with them as one of the medics. Now medics had no guns back then so remember that. They did this charge he killed two Germans in the opposite trench patched a guy up came back picked another mate from the middle over his shoulders and took him back to the allied lines. He was nominated for the vc but never got it due to the captain and the runner killed.in action. You need to follow from time of enlistment to the war to heroic deeds been done maybe someone getting the vc or something. If it was ever to made again it has to be done right or not at all. You.owe it to the men that fought who risked it all and to all that never made it home.

I don't agree with all the poor reviews of this movie. What aren't they seeing in this story that I see? I'm not sure. I watched this movie on my huge TV, with surround sound headphones up loud. The immersion of the sound and great picture for me plays a big role for how mich I enjoy a movie. I believe to fully buy in to a story you have to have an environment for immersion with little to no distractions. This in my opinion doubles the enjoyment factor. If i was watching this movie with loud cars driving by, people talking, distracting noise, forget it, watch it some other time. This is no brainless action movie where you can enjoy it with no sound or immerse yourself into the movie. Now, perhaps war movie fans went into this with expectations of great non stop action scenes. This movie was more story and less action. This is not to say there was no action, just not an unrealistic amount as you might find in say, a call of duty game. I found the movie to be real, in terms of believability. The story and characters were good, the acting was good, it was historically correct, and evoked emotion. I bought in to the movie through a combination of a great soundtrack, good acting, excellent cinematography and top notch character development. This is no shoot em up for action movie fans looking for non stop pace and killing. It's a great example of storytelling, with explosion set pieces, action, history, and a love of good stories. I really like good quality war based movies, and I really enjoyed this one. I loved this movie.

This movie is riddled with unforgivable inaccuracies. The most convincing part is the mud. An FYI for wannabe screenwriters - check your language references! Australians did NOT say things like "you guys" "ok" and "I'm in" in that era. That kind of error really sets the movie up to fail. Likewise wardrobe. Check shirts might be commonly worn in the bush nowadays but not back then. And that ridiculous black hat..... Regarding plot and character development: a decent examination of how impossible it is to 'get it right' in war. It was easy to sympathise with the protagonist's battle with guilt and regret.

Lots of new young faces in this movie. Depicting WW1, trenches, mud, rain, snow, rain & more snow. The young boys want to be men on the battlefield and do not understand the consequences of the adventure they thought would await them. The thing that kept bugging me through the whole movie was the fact they were in mud up to their elbows, yet they were clean-shaven, and freshly cut hair. Levi MIller is a good up-and-coming actor, and has a good list of past work on here. So will likely see him a lot in the future in movies. Overall not a bad movie, makes you think about what these young men went through in the trenches over 100 years ago. You can see why on returning home they would have struggled to life before the war. We know now about PTSD, not back then. Sad to see that in the US & Canada it only returned $743 on the opening weekend. Shows that it was not marketed very well.

Watched it last night with my son, a viewer of all movies relating to war, on Prime. We were both impressed. There was a raw and honest quality about it that you don't get in over-engineered productions. It is phenomenal to truly think about how much was achieved on such a relatively small budget. The acting was excellent - these were not seasoned soldiers but innocent young boys. Australians are renowned for being a courageous peoples and I think this spirit is well portrayed. Sadly Australia is also renowned for tall poppy syndrome, and I certainly feel a lot of that is coming through in some of the other reviews written by Australians. The European's have a much greater appreciation for this type of film-making. I would recommend you watch it and decide for yourself. If you're after a hyped up Hollywood movie this is not it. If you after something real, raw and courageous - simple yet powerful this may be it.

This may not be an epic war movie but it's an important story about how young and naive our young soldiers were when they signed up for WW1. It tells the story of young man conflicted between loyalty to his family sheep station and his mates volunteering for the war. The conditions these kids fought under were appalling but the fought well and honourably. There have been lots of war movies but most are American and about heroes....this one is about Aussie kids. It was not the best movie but if you think about the era, 1916, and the sacrifices these soldiers made in a foreign country under terrible conditions, it's told well.

Such a great movie on WW1. It depicts the human side of war and the tragedy of the historical event. Very good attention to detail in regard to look, feel and texture. Actors were age appropriate and did Stirling performances. This movie is a must watch for military movie fans. Australia lost so many in the Great War movies like this are important for modern Australia's understanding of the sacrifice. This should have been released close to Anzac Day as it would reinforce the meaning of the day. The home coming at the end of the movie is a statement of lament. Best watched with surround sound and on a big screen.

I saw this movie today and it wasn't bad at all. I'm a fan of war movies, more like war movies based on true stories, and I can't say I was disappointed watching this. It's not a movie that people are used to seeing and I'm talking about the fact that it's not an action movie with a lot of battles and more. It's actually a kind of drama film where you can see what young Australians were dealing with in the First World War, what a big problem the equipment in the trenches was and the fear that young people went into. I enjoyed it, it was, again, a decent film and I learned a few things about ANZAC and for some newbie actors and a young producer with 10 million dollars. Budget and a production with over 1000 people, it was a great job.

I have seen some masterpieces on this genre movie. Those were unbelievably outstanding such as- all quiet on the western front, 1917, hackshaw ridge et cetera. Director is not so experienced i think. Cinematography average. VFX was annoying. A slow start movie with happy ending. This movie needed more details and clarity of plot. Director couldn't make it. Color grading was not so good but okay. Actors who has tried their best. Appreciable. The best part is solders who fights for the peace they can find their happiness at the worst moment. Cooperating with mate is very important which has been clearly noted in this movie. Thats why i give 4/10.