Kokoda Film Analysis

1448 Words6 Pages

The extent in which the film Kokoda (2006) accurately represents aspects of the Kokoda campaign is moderate. The Kokoda campaign lasted four months and consisted of battles fought between Japanese and Australian forces. The battles began when Japanese forces arrived at the north coast of Papua New Guinea in July 1942. Their strategy was to advance through a track over the Owen Stanley Range and occupy Port Moresby, in order to use it as a base for launch operations and threaten Australia. As a defence, Australia sent the newly formed 39th Battalion to cross the Kokoda Track and defeat the Japanese. The film Kokoda aimed to represent different aspects of the battles of Kokoda, including terrain, attitudes towards the enemy, and living conditions …show more content…

The Kokoda campaign is considered to be one of the most significant battles Australia fought in World War Two. The conflict between Australia and Japan occurred when Japan attempted to occupy Port Moresby to use as a base. The film Kokoda attempted to represent multiple aspects of the Kokoda campaign, but only managed to do so moderately. An aspect the film aimed to represent was terrain, which didn 't succeed as the film mostly used eye-level angles and mid-shots in the majority of the scenes. The first two sources clearly showed the different slopes and heights that were present in Papua New Guinea, but unfortunately the film did not represent this often and accurately enough. It also tried to show the soldiers ' attitudes against the Japanese forces, but the director chose to portray this visually. This did not give the same effect as the third and fourth sources did, as it did not represent the racism and acute hostility directed at the Japanese soldiers. The film also attempted to show living conditions and diseases present during the campaign. This was a successful aspect that the film portrayed, as it was able to accurately show the environment and the effect of the diseases that the soldiers had to endure. Overall, the film Kokoda moderately represented aspects of the

More about Kokoda Film Analysis