A Vietnam war movie released in 2019, Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan has a couple of other potential strikes against it. It’s Australian, for one, and who even remembers that Australia lined up alongside the USA for that epic? For another, it’s not even vaguely interested in setting Vietnam in the wider political context. All good reasons to watch it, then.
Long Tan was a real battle, in which 108 Australian and New Zealand troops somehow managed to hold off an enemy Vietcong force of 2,000 in a battle that took place in a rubber plantation, at a huge cost in lives on both sides. Not that this movie is really interested in the other side. This is a “love the soldier” war movie, with the focus exclusively on the marooned unit, the artillery guys trying to help them out with a bit of judicious shelling, and, way back where it’s safe, top brass calling the shots.
There’s a familiar war-movie arc to it. Meet the men in repose, then watch them as they head into danger, are ambushed and are exposed for what they really are in the ensuing firestorm. The likes of ex-commando Major Harry Smith (Travis Fimmel), rebellious Private Paul Large (Daniel Webber), shy Private Noel Grimes (Nicholas Hamilton) and doughty Sergeant Bob Buick (Luke Bracey). Meanwhile, back in comparative safety, Brigadier David Jackson (Richard Roxburgh) and Lt Col. Colin Townsend (Anthony Hayes) dither and argue, bridle and sweat over what to do. All real people, some of whom didn’t make it. And from the pictures over the end credits it’s obvious that for the most part actors have been cast with at least a passing resemblance to the originals.
There are familiar tropes too: insubordination winning the day; lions led by donkeys; the tough senior officer recognising himself in a junior soldier; the conversation about loved ones back home that tolls like a funeral bell.
It’s a little bit Zulu (resourcefulness in the face of a huge disparities in numbers), a little bit Kajaki (intense camaraderie fostered by a desperate situation) and more than a touch Hacksaw Ridge (human beings reduced to butcher’s cuts).
Director Kriv Stenders is best known as the director of Red Dog, another tale of gritty Aussie masculinity, and does well with the battle scenes – which is to say almost the entirety of the movie – a bit less well with keeping the audience apprised as to the who, the what and the where. Which is verisimilitude, if you like – the fog of war and all that – or poor storytelling, take your pick. Stenders works hard to prevent his movie from resembling an assemblage of shoot-’em-up screengrabs by avoiding point-of-view shots, switching the action about and moving the focus from the front to the backline and all points in between. There’s no glamour here. John Wayne’s Green Berets – his Vietnam apology – has been mentioned in some quarters but Stenders and co stay well away from all that.
Fimmel is billed as the star, and plays Major Smith with a lack of starry tics. Though this is really an ensemble effort, with everyone concerned contributing to what is a very heartfelt film. It’s high on guts-or-glory heroism, and yet you’re left in no doubt that even to be in that plantation on that day was to be changed for ever. For all its one-sidedness, there is a distinct lack of triumphalism, as epitomised by the look on Smith’s face when he’s congratulated on his “win”. This is followed by a roll call in which the silence as names are called out speaks volumes.
Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2024
