After a war, we Brits have an unfortunate habit of forgetting our allies and letting it all fade into history. We have all too easily forgotten that it was our Russian allies who effectively won the Second World War with huge loss of life, and we have all too easily forgotten the men from the Empire who gave so much for King and country.
We owe an enormous debt to the Australians who fought in 'our' wars and we owe a debt to Australian cinema for reminding us of it with excellent films such as 'Gallipoli' (WWI) and 'Breaker Morant' (Boer War) - and 'Beneath Hill 60'.
'Beneath Hill 60' is based on the mining operations of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company before the Battle of Messines. It is based on the diaries of Captain Oliver Woodward (played here by Brendan Cowell). The film combines a love story as Woodward leaves behind his young love to fight in Belgium with a claustrophobic tale of the dangerous lives of the sappers as they place some 32 tonnes of explosives under the German lines.
While the film doesn't have quite the same deep impact of some earlier Australian war films it is rather well done, and well worth a watch. For more info on the background to the film search on Wikipedia for "Battle of Hill 60 (Western Front)"
4/5 stars - recommended.