whilst watching the screening of Gallipoli (Weir 1981) in the lecture this morning it was easy to see the Australian stereotypes drawn on by Weir, instilled in the characters. the sense of joviality and comaraderie (mateship) were clear in the relationship between Archie and Dunn with their joking and teasing and friendship illustrated throughout the film. However i couldn't help but compare the frustrating ending of the film with other australian films. Gallipoli ends with the character of Dunn carrying a message to the front line to draw back. Dunn doesnt make it by mere seconds and the front line, which includes Dunn's friend Archie, is sent over to their slaughter.
Is this idea of a frustrating ending becoming a trend in Australian films? Ten Canoes (2006) has an anti-climactic ending, Romeo and Juliet (1996) (i consider it an Australian film because it was made by one of australia's best, Baz Lurhman), though a shakespeare adaptation has an incredibly infuriating ending, Candy (2006), both lovers get off drugs and they still dont live happily ever after, Lantana (2001), and the uncertainty it creates at the end, Moulin Rouge (2001), which doesn't have the happiest of endings. It would seem the australian film industry and public alike enjoy thier films to have a more real and hard endings then their American counter-part's fluffy, sugar coated endings. So much so that films like The Butterfly Effect (2004) had an alternate ending in 
Australia than it did here.
So is the Australian film industry the anitote to the steotypical American 'happy ending'?
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