''An Accidental Soldier'' is an Australian television

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

produced by

Goalpost Pictures Goalpost Pictures is an Australian film production company founded and run by Rosemary Blight, Ben Grant, Kylie du Fresne, and Cass O’Connor. History The 2007 suburban comedy '' Clubland'', directed by Cherie Nowlan, debuted at the 2009 Sun ...

, released on 15 September 2013, and starring Marie Bunel, Dan Spielman,

Julia Zemiro Julia Zemiro () (born 14 April 1967) is a French-born Australian television presenter, radio host, actress, singer, writer and comedian. She is best known as the host of the music quiz and live performance show ''RocKwiz''. Zemiro is a fluent E ...

, and

Bryan Brown Bryan Neathway Brown AM (born 23 June 1947) is an Australian actor. He has performed in over eighty film and television projects since the late 1970s, both in his native Australia and abroad. Notable films include '' Breaker Morant'' (1980), ...

. It is written by Blake Ayshford from the screenplay of John Charalambous, who based it on his 2008 book ''Silent Parts''. The film was directed by

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian actress,

and was shot just outside

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia.

Plot summary

Harry Lambert ( Dan Spielman) is a timid 35-year-old Australian baker who is shamed by his rural neighbours to join the 1st AIF and fight in the Western Front of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Behind the lines, he continues to bake bread but when they are called up to fight, Harry realises he doesn't want to kill and leaves the battlefield. In the countryside, deserters are being trailed; he barely avoids capture when Colombe Jacotot ( Marie Bunel) finds him. She is a quiet farm-wife, who has faced the horrors of war: the death of her son and her husband abandoning her. Neither knows the other's language but they quickly find themselves unexpectedly in love. She teaches him about true courage; he shows her beauty in a life that she thought was over.

Cast

* Dan Spielman as Harry Lambert * Marie Bunel as Colombe Jacotot *

as Isabelle *

as Captain Foster *

Malcolm Kennard Malcolm Bruce Kennard (born in 1967) is an Australian born actor of theatre, film and television. He has appeared in a wide variety of roles in Australia, from soap opera to mini-series and made for television films and also in US productions. ...

as Captain Humphries *

Christian Manon Christian Manon is a French-Australian actor based in Sydney. He is best known for his work in Australian theatre and television. His most notable film role was "Mael" in the film adaptation of the Anne Rice novel, ''Queen of the Damned''. Ear ...

Production

Director

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian actress,

requested an unnamed Australian actress for the French-speaking Colombe. However, a French casting director gave Marie Bunel's name to the producers. She auditioned via

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

and Ward looked no further. "You can't pretend that Frenchness," Ward said, "even if somebody speaks very good French. There is incredible honesty and charm to unel'sperformance." Melburnian

plays Colombe's friend and neighbour, Isabelle. Zemiro was born in France and emigrated to Australia as a child. She speaks French fluently and this is her first major French-speaking role. Ward's husband

plays Captain Foster. This is the first collaboration for the couple since the 2009 film ''

Beautiful Kate ''Beautiful Kate'' is a 2009 Australian drama film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Maeve Dermody and Sophie Lowe. The film premiered in June 2009 at the Sydney Film Festival and was released i ...

''. CGI erased power lines and houses in

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

, recreating the French countryside in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Producer Sue Taylor stated, "There is a six-week window after the winter rains in the spring where we do look a little like France. I always felt we could do it."

Reception

Critical reception

Graeme Blundell of ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' stated, "

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

Ayshford, in taking the colonial part of the novel, which interweaves events from 1968 and fading memories of the war with events from 1918, also provides a hushed story of an unlikely love. Adaptations into film are difficult to manage. But Ayshford and his sympathetic director have created something quite singular and filmically exciting."

Accolades

In 2013, ''An Accidental Soldier'' received six

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

nominations, including Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series, Best Direction in a Drama or Comedy for

Rachel Ward Rachel Claire Ward (born 12 September 1957) is an English-Australian actress,

, and Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama for Marie Bunel. The film was also nominated for an

AWGIE Award The AWGIE Awards are annual awards given by the Australian Writers' Guild (AWG), for excellence in screen, television, stage, and radio writing. History The AWGIE awards were conceived in 1967, with the first event being held in 1968. Bettina ...

for Telemovie: Adaptation for Blake Ayshford.

References

External links

''An Accidental Soldier'' 's official website

''An Accidental Soldier''
at

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship (broadcasting), flagship ABC Television (Australian TV network), A ...

's website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Accidental Soldier 2013 war drama films Australian drama television films Australian war drama films Anti-war films about World War I Western Front (World War I) films World War I television films 2010s English-language films 2010s French-language films Films based on Australian novels Films based on military novels 2013 television films 2013 films 2013 multilingual films Australian multilingual films English-language war drama films