Australia is lead into World War 1 as the allies of Britain fighting the Germans for Gallipoli. Although at the battle of Gallipoli, noble as it was, was a needless massacre of young men in their prime.
The excitement of the war revved up local boys and men wanting to join the army. Archibald was among these men, although he was only eighteen and turned down once in his hometown. Archie an irresistible young lad works on his family's farm in Western Australia, during the 1915. Archie has the makings of a champion sprinter.
He meets Frank a cocky drifter, at a race in Archie's home town. Archie confides in Frank the prospect of joining the army and Frank volunteers to take Archie to Perth, Frank's home town, where no one knows Archie and therefore, he can enlist. Although along the way they run into problems and end up crossing a desert with nothing but a canteen of water. In the duration of their trek across the desert they discuss the enlistment. Within this Archie discovers that Frank is afraid to join the infantry and Frank sees that Archie is ambitious boy on an adventurous journey of excitement.Archie and Frank split up, while Archie winds up in the light horsemen and Frank in the infantry.
They arrive at training camp to discover their fleets are together in Cairo. At this, Frank is able to gain support and join the light horsemen after all. They join their regiment at the fateful battle of Gallipoli, where Archie denies being the runner of communication from the desperation to improve his manhood only to hand it down to a second place runner, Frank.The battle ends terribly at their expense, Franks and Archie's regiment is killed in cold blood by the conniving Germans and bad communication from the bridge.
Archie is a young boy just coming in to adulthood. He is a very cheerful and bright young lad with an incredible future before him. Archie's future is one of great talent for he has the makings of a champion sprinter. Yet he throws this all away for the compelling stories revealed about the war. Archie along with his newfound friend Frank are lured into the adventure of the war, combined with their own national pride.
Archie's spirits never dampen even though, for instance when they are on their way to Gallipoli, Archie wakes up Frank all cheerful and humming a tune, while there are bullets flying right over their heads from their opponents. Archie sees the positive side to things, like the type of honorable hero you can become by joining the war and even though it is a death sentence he still has national pride and would feel ashamed if he did not fight for his country. Archie's character develops from a naive teenager to an aggressive soldier ready to stand up for his country.In the end of the movie Archie shows his national pride by knowing that he is going to die yet still goes over the trench to show his country that he is willing to do anything for it. At Archie's sacrifice for his country and that of his fellow man's, it shows from the type of person Archie was capable of being was fascinating. For he had a bright future ahead of him, including becoming a champion runner, yet gives this all up in the end at the prospect of his countries future.
All of these men became apart of the legendary World War 1 confrontation between Germany and Australia.
