Australian War Film Collection - Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan / Parer's War

August 18, 1966. Late afternoon. South Vietnam. For three and a half hours, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, Major Harry Smith (Travis Fimmel) and his dispersed company of 108 young and mostly inexperienced Australian and New Zealand soldiers are fighting for their lives. They’re holding off an overwhelming enemy force of 2000 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. With their ammunition running out, their casualties mounting, and the enemy massing for a final assault, each man begins to search for the strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honour, decency and courage.

Parer’s War

It’s 1942 – Darwin has been bombed and 29-year-old, wartime cinematographer Damien Parer (Matthew Le Nevez) is filming Australian troops as they fight the Japanese on the deadly razorback ridges of New Guinea. Risking his own life, Damien is determined to make the film that will shake Australians out of their complacency and let them know that the war is own their doorstep. Based on the lives of real people and actual events, Parer’s War tells the story of a man caught between two worlds – at ease amongst the troops and in the midst of jungle warfare, but struggling to win the love of his life.