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John
Curtin was the Australian Prime Minister during a particular time of
the War when the country was faced with the prospect of Japanese troops
storming our northern coast. During a six month period, Curtin
took over the reins as Prime Minister from Bob Menzies. He showed
tremendous strength and political courage by standing up to Churchill’s
bullying tactics when Churchill tried to retain Australian troops in
the European theatre of the War rather than defending our own borders.
Curtin
goes into painstaking detail of how John Curtin tackled this issue and
the impact that it had on his family and his health – he died soon
after achieving the re-direction of Australian troops to New Guinea.
The
ABC has simultaneously screened Curtin free-to-air and released it on
DVD (a trend which seems to becoming more and more common over at the
ABC). Running just on 90 minutes in length, attempting to
document the daily activities of Curtin’s time in office made it a
little too fast-paced for my liking. There were several occasions
when I would have liked to stop a moment and explore how the situations
on-screen were effecting the characters. There were several
opportunities to slow the story down and delve deeper into the Curtin
family situation, such as Curtin’s son going off to fight in the War
and his daughter’s involvement in supporting his political
career. This is one instance where a mini-series may have been
preferable to a one-off film.
Having said that, there are a lot
of good points about the film. The attention to detail is
striking, with the set decoration being worthy of note. The
images of the newly built Parliament House nestled among the sheep and
paddocks in Canberra makes for a humerous look back at the time, as
does the art-deco furniture and fittings which reminded me of scenes
from the earlier Sullivans TV series.
The
performances throughout the entire cast are top class. William
McInnes does a great job of re-creating the impression of Curtin with
little more than a short haircut and a pair of contact lenses.
Noni Hazlehurst, once again, impressed as the wife who was a solid
support for the Prime Minister. Geoff Morrell as Ben Chifley is
another stand-out, with other well known faces sprinkled among the cast
who impressed.
Overall, Curtain
is fantastic and is certain to grab - and maintain - your
attention. It goes a long way in keeping the ANZAC tradition
alive and is a valuable addition to anyones Wartime DVD collection.
EXTRAS
There is always one problem with the ABC’s simultaneous DVD releases –
there are never any Extras! This is one occasion where the DVD release could
have benefited greatly from extra footage.
The ABC would most certainly have had extensive newsreel and documentary material to draw on to
supplement the story presented in the film - perhaps some background on
Curtin’s pre-Prime Minister career and life, the British/American
perspective of Curtin’s political decisions, or even some more detail
on the illness that led to his death.
Conclusion:
Movie 80% Extras: N/A
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