Classy and lifeless—a prettily photographed, heavily directed antiwar film (1981) that elicits only pity for its two young Australian protagonists, caught up in a suicide battle in World War I. The film spends most of its 100-minute running time developing the friendship between the two boys, while tipping the audience off to their ultimate fate—it’s like watching lambs being fattened for the slaughter. There’s not much anger in the film: its dominant tones are passivity, masochism, and a weird complacency. Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock) directed, though his personality is evident only dimly. With Mel Gibson and Mark Lee.