Touches You

To me, this movie is perfection.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Now when I was a young man, I carried me pack, and I lived the free life of a rover From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback, well, I waltzed my Matilda all over. Then in 1915, my country said son, It's time you stopped rambling, there's work to be done. So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun, and they marched me away to the war.And the band played Waltzing Matilda, as the ship pulled away from the quay And amidst all the cheers, the flag-waving and tears, we sailed off for Gallipoli And how well I remember that terrible day, how our blood stained the sand and the water And of how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay, we were butchered like lambs at the slaughter. Johnny Turk he was waiting, he'd primed himself well. He shower'd us with bullets, And he rained us with shell. And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell Nearly blew us right back to Australia.But the band played Waltzing Matilda, when we stopped to bury our slain. We buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs, then we started all over again. And those that were left, well we tried to survive, in that mad world of blood, death and fire And for ten weary weeks, I kept myself alive, though around me the corpses piled higher Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head, and when I woke up in my hospital bed, And saw what it had done, well I wished I was dead. Never knew there was worse things than dyin'.For I'll go no more waltzing Matilda, all around the green bush far and free To hump tent and pegs, a man needs both legs-no more waltzing Matilda for me. So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed, and they shipped us back home to Australia. The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane, those proud wounded heroes of Suvla And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay, I looked at the place where me legs used to be. And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me, to grieve, to mourn, and to pity.But the band played Waltzing Matilda, as they carried us down the gangway. But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared, then they turned all their faces away And so now every April, I sit on me porch, and I watch the parades pass before me. And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march, reviving old dreams of past glories And the old men march slowly, old bones stiff and sore. They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war And the young people ask, what are they marching for? And I ask myself the same question.But the band plays Waltzing Matilda, and the old men still answer the call, But as year follows year, more old men disappear. Someday no one will march there at all. Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? And their ghosts may be heard as they march by that billabong, who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?And the band played Waltzing Matilda Eric Bogle

From the first second I started this movie it had me on the tip of my seat for the rest of the duration of the film. So much suspense and thrill and hurt and emotions..... The battlefield scenes were so touching. Him talking about his children. The few flash forwards and the fact that he just felt things he could have never known for sure just really touched me. Now mind you, I am Aussie nor am I Turkish. I am a humble girl from Holland and even though I have loved my history classes (up to a certain extent), here they have never taught us anything about the battle of Gallipoli, just a faint story about Troy, so this was all the more interesting to me as I am just a fan of war stories - not so much a fan of war, just to be clear - and a good flash back in time to make me feel as if I was there, right in the middle of it is just everything for me. To feel every emotion they are feeling and/or must have been feeling at a certain point in, for a certain period of time....all that to come to that crappy ending! The synopsis of the ending itself was fine but it just stopped so sudden I just thought ''what in the frock is this.''I just thought the ending could have ended just a bit more subtle. Now it was just like ''okay well this is the end of the movie and you know it so.. bye bye!''That just kind of ruined it for me. Especially since it's often the ending that stays with one the longest.This still should not prevent you from thinking that this is a crappy movie, cause this is definitely a must-see. MUST. Still, crappy ending.

First of all the film is beautiful, full marks for cinematography. For me this is Russell Crowe's directorial debut and it shows. the film is good, but I didn't find myself empathising with his character Joshua Connor and even less with the family. Maybe Mr Crowe is just trying too hard for a big blockbuster, but as they say from small acorns and I fully expect that with his first film under the belt he will become much more adventurous. It isn't a bad start, just not great. I found myself more drawn to the Colin Firth character in The Railway Man. I look forward to his next film, Russell Crowe brings a great presence to the screen as an actor and ultimately will, no doubt do the same as a director.

Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) is an Australian farmer who lost his three sons in the Battle of Gallipoli. Four years later, his wife Eliza dies and he vows to bring his sons home to be buried next to their mother. In Istanbul, he rents a room from war widow Ayshe (Olga Kurylenko) who is under pressure. Connor sneaks into Gallipoli despite the British military. Major Hasan commanded Turkish troops during the battle and decides to help Connor find his dead sons.There is a sense of the great epic. I really like the movie going to Gallipoli. However, it goes on a little too long with a few twist that is less believable. It would be better to not have those turns. It also tries to make the Turks victims and the Greeks villains which doesn't necessarily sit well. I do have a few problems with the story in the second half. It's Russell Crowe's theatrical directing debut and his visual efforts are impressive. He is able to keep flow of the story and shows some solid skills as a director.