Emotion In The Film 'Gallipoli'

Group Essay - Describe at least 1 important emotion in the film ‘Gallipoli’. Explain how visual and verbal features used help us to understand these emotions.

In the 1981 film Gallipoli, directed by Peter Weir, there are various emotions felt throughout the film that help to express important themes. Excitement and sadness are two key feelings that are focused on, nearly every scene. They help emphasise the wastefulness of young life and potential, but also the patriotic attitude towards war at the time.

Gallipoli follows young athlete Archy Hamilton on his journey to fight alongside the Australian Light Horse Infantry at Turkey’s borders. On his way, he develops a friendship with his closest sprinting rival, Frank Dunne, who also joins the

A visual technique that the director uses to accentuate the Australian attitude towards war is a close-up shot of an older man dancing. In this shot we see an old man waving both a British and Australian flag dancing to the patriotic music in the background. This close-up shot focuses on the excitement of the old man, showing that although the older generation of Australia that cannot be a part of the war, they are still just as excited for the younger men to sign up. Furthermore, this gives the audience an idea on the overall excitement of the Australians to join Britain and win the war. Another visual technique that the director uses to portray the enthusiasm and anticipation for the war is a tracking shot of the excited crowd at the race meeting. In this shot the camera moves along the crowd showing how excited they are about the athletes taking part around them. The director uses the tracking shot to emphasise the emotion of excitement of all of the crowd and how this excitement is translated into the recruitment of the Australian light

The main song featured is Adagio in G minor, by Albinoni. It is a slow, sombre and dignified melody featuring mainly string instruments. Always used in scenes involving tragedy, Adagio shows how wasteful a war can be by providing us with a sense of dread. For example, it is played in the credits along with a black background that symbolises death and red letters, symbolising blood. The music is also first introduced in the scene where the australian soldiers are ferried to the Gallipoli coast where they know the likelihood of death in battle is high. Adagio is next used when Frank visits Snowy (one of his friends and fellow comrade), who has sustained wounds from an attack on the Turkish. Snowy is obviously dying from his wounds, and the music playing in the background is emotionally charged, adding to the feeling of sadness and wastefulness with Snowy being only young. Another verbal technique that expresses sadness is Archy's mantra. Archy performs this before every race and before going over the top. This mantra is a motivational chant that psyches Archy up, taught to him by his Uncle Jack. However, as he recites it for the final time at The Nek, it has a poignant effect as he and his fellow soldiers know they face certain death. His racing medal is shown hanging from the bayonet, symbolising the life he could have lived,