part two of two © ATOM 2015 A STUDY GUIDE BY ROBERT LEWIS http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-576-6 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au CONTENTS 2 OVERVIEW 2 CURRICULUM APPLICABILITY 3 EXPLORING IDEAS AND ISSUES IN THE FILM 3 Summary of Part 2 4 Knowledge and understanding 6 The Characters 7 Issues 11 Film Study 13 Resources for further CONTENTS study of the Gallipoli campaign 14 Appendix 1 OVERVIEW CURRICULUM Deadline Gallipoli ( 2 x c.105 minute episodes, 2015) is the APPLICABILITY powerful story of four war correspondents, Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Phillip Schuler and Keith Murdoch, Gallipoli is suitable as a classroom resource for middle and whose job it was to report on the events that unfolded on upper secondary students, especially for: the shores of Gallipoli in 1915. Australian History Year 9 These were the first truly embedded war correspondents • Depth Study: World War 1 — The places where whose defiance ignited a change in the campaign’s course Australians fought and the nature of warfare during and whose commitment to the stories of the men turned World War I, including the Gallipoli campaign the war from a strategic failure into a triumph of the human spirit. English Year 9 and 10 • Analyse and evaluate how people, cultures, places, The series is an epic tale told through personal journey. events, objects and concepts are represented in texts, The journalists come to realise how much the war strategy including media texts, through language, structural has been mismanaged by those in command and how and/or visual choices. little information is being communicated back to the British and Australian governments about the true state of the Media Arts Year 9 and 10 campaign. • Evaluate how genre and media conventions and techni- cal and symbolic elements are manipulated to make As the atrocities, defeat and horror mount, the journalists representations and meaning. are subjected to tough and often bizarre levels of censor- • Evaluate how social, institutional and ethical issues ship. Unable to report the truth they nevertheless must influence the making and use of media artworks. witness it. Worse, their doctored articles home are used to entice young men to sign up to fight. Teachers are advised that Part 2 contains a sex scene and occasional strong language. As the war correspondents become entrenched in the bloody conflict, we become their intimates. They are 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION flawed human beings, dedicated, at times arrogant, but each is profoundly affected by the bravery and wholesale slaughter. Though it is understood that truth may some- times be a necessary casualty in war, as the campaign drags on, some of the journalists take desperate action – they risk their jobs and their lives to break the rules. This act of disobedience will change history. 2 EXPLORING IDEAS AND ISSUES IN THE FILM Summary of Part 2 disastrous nature of the Gallipoli campaign is publicly revealed. It is August 1915, and the generals are planning a last great offensive to break out of the beaches and immedi- Ashmead-Bartlett is expelled from Gallipoli, but starts a ate hills, seize the high ground, and advance to take the series of interviews and lectures that further reveal the in- Dardanelles and then Constantinople. competence of the planners, especially General Hamilton, who is withdrawn and replaced by general Monro. But the planning is typically poor, and the element of surprise lost. The fighting is brutal, thousands are slaugh- Monro soon realises the desperate condition of the men, tered, and nothing is gained. and agrees to undertake the terribly risky and dangerous gradual withdrawal of the troops. All expect huge casual- The correspondents are increasingly despondent and one, ties, but the withdrawal is so well planned that there are no Schuler, leaves to enlist — he is killed in action in 1917 on casualties, and the Turks do not realize the Allies have left the Western Front. until all have gone. Another Australian journalist, Keith Murdoch, arrives, In 1919 Bean returns to Gallipoli, part of a mission to find 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION and in a short visit realizes the disastrous nature of the and identify the dead, and bury them, and to collect infor- campaign, and the appalling conditions in which the mation about and objects from the campaign. men are living. He agrees to evade censorship by smug- gling a critical letter from Ashmead-Bartlett to the British We see the story of the death of one Turkish soldier, killed Prime Minister, Lord Asquith. The letter is intercepted, after playing a duduk (flute), reprised as Bean discovers but Murdoch writes his own version of it and delivers it the duduk, where it is housed today in the Australian War to the Australian Prime Minister. It is published and the Memorial. 3 5 What is Hamilton’s response to Ashmead-Bartlett’s iden- tifying weaknesses in the plan? 6 Several scenes show the nature of the fighting as part of this August offensive, including savage fighting in trenches (as at Lone Pine), and a suicidal charge against the enemy (as at The Nek). What are we shown about the nature of the fighting? Are there any aspects shown that surprise you, or that contradict the image you had of the Australian soldiers? 7 We see one of the journalists reading an account of the war by another journalist, Nevinson. What is the point being made about Nevinson’s account? How do the three correspondents who are seeing the reality — Bean, Schuler and Ashmead-Bartlett — react? 8 Schuler tells Hamilton that he is leaving to enlist. What does Hamilton admit about the effect the campaign is hav- ing on him? 9 The fourth journalist, Murdoch, arrives after Schuler has left. What does he realise about the campaign? 10 Why does he agree to take Ashmead-Bartlett’s letter, which will evade censorship? Knowledge and 11 What happens to Ashmead-Bartlett’s letter? understanding 12 How does Murdoch overcome that problem? 1 The story is about five main characters – the journalists 13 How has Bean changed as a result of his experiences, CEW Bean, Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, Phillip Schuler and and the censorship? Keith Murdoch, and the commander of the campaign on Gallipoli, General Sir Ian Hamilton. 14 Ashmead-Bartlett has been sent home. What has hap- pened to his career? As you watch this continue to make notes about the char- acter of the four journalists in this episode, including their 15 At the end of his lecture Lady Hamilton confronts him backgrounds, their role, their characters, their attitudes and says: ‘You will be pleased to know the Turks have towards the war, and their attitude towards their job of translated your Times article from last week and it was reporting the war. Also do a character summary for General Hamilton, includ- ing such aspects as his effectiveness as a planner, his leadership, his character, and his attitudes towards his role, and of the journalists. See Table 1. 2 Part 2 opens with planning for the August Offensive (See Appendix 1), some of which involves British troops land- ing at Suvla. They will need water. What does Ashmead- Bartlett discover about the amount of water being supplied 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION for the campaign? 3 Bean explains the plan to his assistant, Bazley. What is Bazley’s comment about the plan? 4 How has the element of surprise about the plan been lost? 4 TABLE 1 CEW BEAN ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT PHILLIP SCHULER KEITH MURDOCH GENERAL HAMILTON SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION 5 greeted with resounding cheers. You’ve given the enemy The Characters hope and courage.’ Do you think there is any truth and fair- ness in this accusation? Explain your reasons. Look at the Study Guide for Part 1 to see a summary of how the writers of Deadline Gallipoli saw the characters. 16 What happens to Schuler? (Go to http://www.metromagazine.com.au/studyguides/ study.asp) 17 Bean is shown helping a soldier write a letter home. The writer wants to tell the truth. What does Bean per- 26 Describe or explain how the writer achieves or realises suade him to say? Why? these characters. 18 Hamilton is replaced, and General Monro takes his 27 Choose one character and compare it to your own place. How does Bean try to persuade him to authorise a impression. Discuss the similarities and differences of your withdrawal from Gallipoli? impression of the character compared to that of the writer. 19 Why is a withdrawal so dangerous? 28 Which of the characters does the film show as chang- ing the most over the course of the campaign? Justify your 20 We see the last days of the campaign. What is happen- view. ing to the soldiers, both physically and emotionally? 29 Here is a description of the four journalists taken from a 21 What strategies are used to disguise the soldiers’ newspaper article. Which character does the writer see as gradual withdrawal? the most significant of the four? Would you agree? Explain your reasons. 22 What mixed attitudes towards the enemy do we see? Four journalists were to play leading roles in forming the 2015 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION 23 The final scenes show Bean back on Gallipoli in 1919 indelible legend of Gallipoli in the minds of Australians. Yet after the end of the war, recording and finding evidence of it was probably the one who remains least-known today the campaign. What happens to that evidence? – Phillip Schuler – whose role was the most immediately profound. 24 Bean says: Don’t let others tell the men’s story.