Tomorrow, When the War Began |
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 • Australia • 2010 • 104m •    • Directed by: Stuart Beattie. • Starring: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz, Phoebe Tonkin, Chris Pang, Ashleigh Cummings, Andrew Ryan, Colin Friels, Don Halbert, Olivia Pigeot, Stephen Bourke, Kelly Butler. • Music by: Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek.     Seven Australian teenage friends from a small town go on a camping trip to be with nature. During their trip, they see military aircraft fly overhead. What they didn't know was their country was being invaded by another country. Returning home, they discover that they are at war. With no training, they band together to fight the enemy.
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Secondly, is the 'invasion' concept, which speaking from the Australian context, is so poignant so as to make it taboo for some people all too willing to resort to labels such as xenophobia. Far from referring to the 'yellow peril' of Australia's foreign policy history, as a racist generalisation based on fear that lead to widespread denial of Japan's War plans until recently, John Marsden and the film have recognised this as a persistent issue in the Australian cultural debate. What does the politically correct want us to do? Are we to be like Neville Chamberlain in the UK in 1939 and not prepare plans for all contingencies even if they are currently far fetched? A parallel for this is the way most people in the Australian cities use water. Many still continue to disbelieve they will ever be without as they let it run down the drain. Its too late when its happening.
Thirdly, whilst discussed this issue myself, I have played with the idea of an empathetic experience that a further invasion of Australia, that is by sea, with our Indigenous People. It goes much further than this though with the kind of ethnic rivalries between many groups in our community especially amongst working people. Now that Europeans are having a difficult time I am seeing this group entering workplaces that are 'owned' by one ethnic group or another as per the kinds of phenomena experienced in any city that is a migration destination. This difference is referred to in the film with the rural-metropolitan divide with the difference between towns people and those 'on-the-land'. Also, yearly tourists unite country Australians, be they Townies or Farmers, where 'the hoard' from the city 'come and spoil everything'. It is one of many analogies that the invasion subject covers.
I have made Artworks placed on-line based upon First World War Axis troops landing on local beaches in a tongue-in-cheek approach to this issue, and I have discussed the notion of concealed foreign troops and equipment arriving in Australia with serving military historians and Australian Army staff, amongst other friends. The fact that the film mentions that container ships allowed significant ports and airports to be taken by foreign troops and that this was motivated by a foreign land grab is one of the scenarios that I have discussed in the past. It certainly conforms to successful offensive doctrine of 'concealment, stealth, movement, and speed' as advocated since Erich Von Manstein who invaded the Crimea in 1941.
One should not rely on the politically correct views when reviewing material that might just have some interesting content. Part of being informed is to listen to all sides of debates and in keeping tabs on right AND left wing dialogues, and those in between in equal measure, I feel able to make judgments that allow me to think for myself.
If anything, I am curious how I would react should I be in the position those young people find themselves, as is my right under the UN Convention on the Declaration for Human Rights, to take up arms and defend whatever I am compelled to fight for. When do we become the Australian MaquisChinditChetnik guerrilla insurgent fighters? What injury or insult does one suffer before one picks up a bomb or rifle and starts shooting policemen and soldiers?
Do we go further than to protest unfairness than has occurred in the UK, the breaches of privacy that abuses our trust in the media, or with the amount of corruption currently overwhelming the ACCC and ICAC in Australia and the decreasing hope of legal representation for most people is it time to act as if there is no-one protecting us? How many people of retirement age are now back at work because financial advisers took up front fees for say Managed Investment Funds as Superannuation, or promises destroyed by the GFC? When do we throw off our patient good natures and stop forgiving the abuses of those who should be working with greater commitment to ethical practice commensurate with their financial rewards?
These are questions political correctness will stop one understanding or empathising with especially when thinking about insurgents in Afghanistan or Iraq where it is essential to the best outcome for all involved. Avoiding a subject because it might be uncomfortably xenophobic when invasions are usually about difference along racial or cultural lines if Nanjing, British colonialisation, or African Slave expeditions are any indication. If Xenophobia is a problem in a film about people coping with an invasion then perhaps a film about civil war might be marginally better, but then this film is not about a civil war and as such perhaps the reference to the displacement of our Indigenous People in the film might be just as Xenophobic toward the British from the point of view of the people in the painting of 1778 Botany Bay watching the raising of the Union Jack. This is how misplaced political correctness selects by fashion rather than intellect and stifles genuine discussion that this film contributes to.
Review by andrew-177-335173 from the Internet Movie Database.
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