Pozieres tells the story of one of the two battle that marked Australia's entry onto the Western Front of the Great War during the epic Battle of the Somme in 1916. It was centred around the northern French village of that name, which ironically was blasted of the face of the earth, by continuous artillery barrages from both sides, though later rebuilt, as closely as possible to pre-war specifications.
It is a documentary-drama, whereby actors take on the roles of real historical figures, with their dialogue, usually taking the form of readings or excerpts from letters, diaries & official documents. The title is a little misleading in that a good deal of the film examines the social and political repercussions of the course of the war in general, back home in Australia, which had only been an officially independent nation of the British Empire of the time, for some 15 years. For me, these domestic scenes are as engrossing, as those of the title battle, in which it should be noted that all the strategic decisions involving the deployment of Australian volunteer troops were made by the British Military High Command led by Field Marshal Douglas Haig. It's fair to say that the makers of Pozieres, like many military historians, takes a fairly dim view of many of Haig's (who was also known as "The Butcher of the Somme") determinations.
Besides examining the approaches of the Allied leaders such as Haig and the Australian Prime Minister of the time, the controversial Billy Hughes, Pozieres' structure is very successful in humanising the every day diggers, whose actors give them both a face and a voice, during which we learn about their pre and (occasionally) post war life, besides their known actions throughout the battle. Things are made frequently far more poignant by the ever-present, but not over-intrusive narrator, Nadine Garner, whereby we are forensically told at a given time, how much longer that character will live.
Director Wain Fimeri to his credit doesn't shy away from shining his camera spotlight on related aspects of the battle with which many Australians may not feel all that comfortable. Some surrendering Germans were shot where they stood, rather than be taken prisoner and back home, the treatment of anyone with the slightest strain of teutonic ancestry was grim, to say the least.
This somewhat unconventional, non-partisan, docu-drama brings the Battle of Pozieres back to life and puts the reader in the moment, both in the trenches and home in Australia. It illustrates both the heroism displayed by the Australian military, in a campaign where the victory achieved, due to the enormously high casualty rate, could only still be described as "pyrrhic".
