This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A shockingly poorly made movie. And I mean shocking because any number of scenes are amazingly beautifully filmed, or blocked. The opening few minutes really get you excited, but the middle 5 hours (it seems like that) are an interminable length of poor acting, emphasized by a hell of a lot of sitting around talking about their feelings poorly, with a lot of poorly written dialog, then they go out and do something to no obvious end and occasionally shoot at someone. By the end, I didn't care what they were doing, I just wanted it to end. The few times I saw them, I preferred the Germans. Better actors, great lines the few times they had one. And I want to emphasize again: Really well filmed when anything except the horsemen in camp, some amazing equipment (where do you get that many WW1 tanks?!?!) and of course if you like watching horses run around, man is this your cup of tea. Go for it. Enjoy.

This wasn't a great film. Clearly it was trying to be, but somewhere along the way they forgot to figure out what they were trying to say. Is it an anti-war film? Is it pro-war? Is it about man's inhumanity to man? Is it just supposed to be good fun? Having the answer to all that be ambiguous might make it seem like this film is taking a more realistic approach but it doesn't feel realistic, just lazy. I honestly don't think they ever thought about what kind of message they were trying to convey. And that's why despite having a few decent battle scenes and an interesting setting it never really seems to catch your attention.The plot of the film is pretty basic. The Aussie light horse is in Palestine fighting the Turks. Sooner or later there's going to be a major cavalry charge, but there's no real anticipation for it. Most of the film is the soldiers dealing with each other, engaging in minor skirmishes, and other stereotypical soldier stuff. There's also the painfully stereotypical nurse love interest, who falls for the hero instantly despite not knowing him and having hundreds of other soldiers to choose from. Most of the rest of the incidents, while generic war film tropes, work significantly better. There's a soldier who isn't able to kill people who's crisis is generally handled well. The new guy introduced into the tried and tested unit is another. The film is taken up with these and there are more hits than misses in this regard. The big battle at the end of the film is the battle of Beersheba, the last successful cavalry charge. A subject like this seems perfect for a gung-ho war film about the high point of the ANZAC cavalry forces to counter the anti-war approach of Gallipoli, but as I said before the film never really settles on what it wants to say.One nice thing about it is the relatively low amount of Pommy-bashing. There is a bit of conflict with the obligatory stiff-necked and humorless British officer, but they also feature a scene where the British soldiers cheer the Aussies on to the embarrassment of the men who are looking for a fight. Furthermore my favorite character in the film is a British intelligence officer. He's every bit the cold and aloof officer you'd expect, but he's smarter than the rest and actually plays up the Aussie perceptions of him to good effect in one hilarious scene. The rest of the characters are somewhat hard to distinguish so this man stands out the more.A few more minor problems with this film: the scenery which is supposed to be in Israel is really obviously southern Australia. All deserts do not look alike, and Beersheba isn't nearly as deserty looking as they seem to think. The other minor problem that occasionally becomes a major problem is the choice of how to portray the enemy. Both the Turks and the Germans speak perfect English. Since this is World War I and the uniforms aren't as distinctive or imprinted in common memory this occasionally makes it difficult to tell which guys are the good guys. Especially when they're not facing the camera. They don't have many scenes, but that just makes it harder to tell when the film has switched focus to the villains. Also, the final charge goes on forever. I was reminded of Monty Python and the Holy Grail when Lancelot keeps running up the hill never getting closer.Overall not a bad film. I know I've gone on about the negative points, but that's just because they are the most notable things about this movie and some of them would be so easy to fix. Most of the film is decent enough. Certainly it's worth watching if you're interested in the time or just like war films or Aussie movies in general. I certainly can't think of another film that spends so long with the cavalry. Just don't go in expecting a masterpiece.

"Australia will be there" that song made for one of many,many fine scenes in an excellent film. I loved Anthony Andrews character : The British Intel Officer with a German name and his scene out birdwatching with the Aussie Sgt where he deliberately drops the satchel containing a forged "loveletter". I,also, loved the the previous scene where the nurse helped him in "creating" the letter.The look of satisfaction on the Intel officers faces when they knew they'd fooled the Turks was great.The ending charge was highlighted (for me) when the Brit General said " Their under the Guns". Pure movie magic !!! Lastly, as a former infantry soldier (US Army 11-H), it looked and felt believable...to me.Can someone please tell me the origon and meaning of "Pommy" .

I have done horse charges for films before, this one is great. The intensity, apprehension, and desperation is well portrayed in the charge. The horsemanship was excellent. The relationship between the riders and their horses appears authentic. In prior researches that I have done about cavalry and mounted infantry, this kind of relationship truly existed. The love story is somewhat weak, however, this may be cultural.This movie was recommended viewing from a fellow "cavalryman" and I can appreciate why he recommended it.