Kokoda

Streaming video - 2014

From the corridors of power to the blood-stained battlefields of the Papua New Guinea highlands, Kokoda tells the story of the brutal World War II military campaign between Australia and Japan that changed the course of Australian history. Fought without mercy by foes with everything to lose, the ferocious battle for the Kokoda Track saw bravery and atrocity, noble and malicious intent on both sides. From day one of the Kokoda campaign, the fighting was politicised, mismanaged, mythologised and venerated. Kokoda delves behind the myths of war to tell the story from both sides of the conflict, giving an authentic and comprehensive account of the desperate confusion of war, the intricate connections between the frontline soldiers and military... high command, and the political agendas that influenced the campaign and continue to percolate through contemporary Australian society. In telling this story, for the first time the camera crew walked and filmed the entire Kokoda Track authentically capturing the visceral nature of the terrain. The series follows in the footsteps of Australia's ill-equipped and poorly trained conscripts, the chocolate soldiers and the battle hardened AIF troops, walking the treacherous 98-kilometre jungle trail from Port Moresby to Kokoda, then on to the blood-stained battlegrounds of Gona, Buna and Sanandanda. The two-hour documentary series includes Interviews with Australian and Japanese veterans and historians, letters to loved ones, previously unpublished documents, and archival footage, footage from the track and dramatisations in Australia and Papua New Guinea, while the diaries of embedded war correspondents Okada Seizo and Chester Wilmot paint an intimate picture of how soldiers on both sides felt during the battles. It introduces the key commanders, including controversial American General Douglas MacArthur, Australia's General Sir Thomas Blamey, and Japanese Commander Tomitaro Horii, for whom defeat in a campaign that had cost thousands of Japanese lives, was intolerable. Kokoda examines the Australian public's response to military campaigns, both then and now, and the myths that they engender. Produced by Andrew Wiseman and directed by Don Featherstone, the two-hour documentary series is based on the best-selling book, Kokoda, by Paul Ham. Screen Australia and Pericles Film Productions in association with Featherstone Productions. Developed and produced in association with the ABC. Produced with the assistance of the Department of Veterans' Affairs. Developed and Produced with the assistance of Film Victoria. Based on a book "Kokoda" by Paul Ham. A Screen Australia Making History Program. 2011 NFSA, Film Victoria and Pericles Film Productions Pty Ltd. Executive Producer: Mark Hamlyn Producer: Andrew Wiseman. Director: Don Featherstone. Writer: Don Featherstone, Andrew Wiseman and Uri Mizrahi. DOP/Cinematographer: Paul Ree, Brent Crockett ACS Narrator/Presenter: William McInnes. more