FRAGMENTS OF WAR: THE DAMIEN PARER STORY

Australia, 1988, 100 minutes, Colour.
Nicholas Eadie, Anne Tenney, Huw Williams, Steve Jodrell.
Directed by John Duigan.

Fragments of War: The Damien Parer Story is a fine telemovie, part of Kennedy- Miller's celebration of the Australian bicentenary (other films include The Year My Voice Broke and The Riddle of the Stinson). The film was written and directed by John Duigan, who had made his mark with such films as Mouth to Mouth, Winter of Our Dreams, Far East. He had also worked in television with Vietnam. After making The Year My Voice Broke (and before making Romero in the United States), he made this tribute to the Australian Oscar-winning war photographer, Damien Parer.

The film is in colour and black and white, the battle sequences often in black and white so that they can incorporate footage from Parer's own work - from Greece, from North Africa (with a recitation of Kenneth Slessor's Beach Burial over some of these scenes), Papua- New Guinea (especially the Kokoda Trail sequences) and in Micronesia until his death in action in Palau.

The film uses a flashback technique. It begins in 1945 at the end of the war with a tribute in a Sydney theatre to Parer and his wife arriving. There are flashbacks from her point of view as well as of others, including the war journalist and Parer's friend, Chester Wilmott.

The film re-creates the atmosphere of World War II and of Sydney at the outbreak of the war. The sequences in Greece and North Africa as well as in New Guinea and Micronesia are convincing.

There is a fine performance by Nicholas Eadie as Damien Parer and Anne Tenney as his wife. Parer was a practising Catholic and well known for his Catholicism. Duigan has incorporated many elements of the Catholicism intelligently into the screenplay and there are discussions about sexual morality, evil and God's permitting evil rather than willing it, as well as scenes of Parer praying. This makes the film an interesting portrait of Parer as well as a persuasive portrait of a Catholic of the '30s and '40s.

Duigan went on to make Flirting, Wide Sargasso Sea, Sirens and The Journey of August King.

1.Impact of the film - as a true story, as a biography, as a portrait of a photographer artist, as a representation of an Australian icon and his reputation? Capturing the history of the era?

2.The film as a telemovie and the quality of production? The contribution of John Duigan in the writing and the research, in the direction and the interpretation of Parer in the war and in his times? Parer's mission of personalising war through filming it?

3.Sydney in the '30s and '40s, the harbour, the workplace? The theatres of war? Americans in Australia?

4.The use of Parer's own footage blending with black and white photography by Duigan? The well-known historical footage from North Africa and from Papua New Guinea?

5.The structure of the film: the meeting in Sydney, Marie and her arrival, the screening of Parer's films, the flashbacks and the building up of the portrait of Parer, his work, relationships? The dramatic impact of knowing the ending from the beginning?

6.The language of the film: Parer as ocker and affable - authentic tones? The use of poetry, especially Kenneth Slessor's Beach Burial? The musical score - and the evoking of the Catholic tradition in hymns, especially the credits sequence with Cesar Frank's Panis Angelicus?

7.The title and the expectations of the film, of a presentation of war and attitudes to war? Australia's participation in World War II? In Israel, Greece, North Africa, Yugoslavia, Papua- New Guinea, the Pacific and Micronesia? The film's visualising of these theatres of war? Helping audiences understand? The cinema sequences and the presentation of newsreels to give the historical background: Hitler, Munich, Mussolini, the progress of the war?

8.Parer's idea of personalising war, the role of photography, the comment on war, the realism, linking war stories and morale-boosting with real people? Relations able to see the theatres of war and even glimpse their family? The personalising of war as a means of critique of war?

9.Damien Parer as a Catholic, the importance of prayer, night prayer, kneeling, the signs of the cross? His discussion with the woman who wanted to seduce him? Discussions of God and evil in the context of the war? A reader? The religious sense of vocation in his photography?

10.Marie Parer and her arrival at the cinema, talking to the young woman, her memories during the screenings, the end and her having to face life and cope? Remembering the past, the hairdressing, the girlfriends, the photo of Damien, the daring each other to go out, going to the pictures? The bonds between the two, his turning up at various times, the letters? The growing importance of the visits? Sydney during the war, the Americans, the advances of the Americans, wanting sex, Marie's reaction? Damien and the walks, the talking, the matter-of-fact engagement, the awkwardness? The brief sequence of the wedding ceremony? The focus of the train ride to Orange for the honeymoon and the friendship of the man in the carriage? Marie's pregnancy? The delineation of her character, a strong woman, her being able to argue with Damien about the war, his absences, their marriage? The effect of the short marriage on her life? (And the real Marie acting as adviser for the film.)

11.Damien and his Spanish- Irish heritage, the typical Australian, the ocker style, the genial happy go lucky ease? Turning up to photograph the girls and his style, the attraction to Marie? His getting up the nerve to take her out? The religious discussions? The reality of the war? His decision to go to the war, the transition from photos to newsreels? The experience of Israel, the night in Haifa, the sexual advances and the discussion about authentic love and relationships? Friendships? Going to Africa, the faces that he photographed in Africa amongst the Allies, the enemy? The dangers of filming under fire? The sequences on the sands and beaches of North Africa? The deaths and funerals, the recitation of beach burial? Going to Greece, the friendship with Chester Wilmott, the partisans and his being looked after by the family? The evacuation? Going through enemy lines - part adventure, part danger? The Polish woman and her daughter, the Yugoslav experience?

12.The transition to the Pacific, his making training films? The significance of the Kokoda Trail and its being seen throughout the world? Illness, Malaria? The honours, the winning of the Oscar? Lack of support from Australia? His decision to work for the Americans? Going to Guam, to Palau, the voice-over and his death?

13.The military background of the war, the military characters, the officials, his having to deal with the officials as the war journalist?

14.The portrait of his friends, Chester Wilmott, the talk, their admiration for him?

15.His meeting people, affability with people, his discussion with the sister of the man who had died, confirming his attitude towards photographing the war and personalising it?

16.The visits to Sydney, the discussions with Marie, her decision to be able to let him go? To accept the possibility of his death?

17.The re-creation of a period, a war world which still had traditions of gentility? A serious world? Portrait of a significant Australian?