Kokoda (also known as Kokoda - 39th Battalion) is a 2006 Australian war film directed by Alister Grierson and is based on the experiences of Australian troops fighting Japanese forces during the 1942 Kokoda Track campaign.
Due to budgetary restrictions, Grierson and co-writer John Lonie were forced to scale down the story, concentrating primarily on the trials and tribulations of one lost patrol.
Background
In 1942, with the fall of Singapore, Australia lost nearly an entire division captured. The rest of Australia's professional military force – the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) – were still overseas fighting the Axis forces in North Africa. Australia then only had available conscripts and militiamen who were considered unfit for combat duties. These were known as 'chocos' – it was believed that they would 'melt' away in the heat of battle. The chocos had been kept doing menial tasks such as unloading ships and digging roads.
Given the circumstances that these men were the only ones immediately available to defend New Guinea, they were rushed northwards with minimal, or no, combat training. From Port Moresby, they were sent over the torturous Owen Stanley Range along the only track – the Kokoda track till they came in contact with Japanese forces coming along the track from the other direction.
The story of Kokoda is of men from one of these units, under-trained, under-provisioned sent to face battle-hardened Japanese soldiers in a desperate effort to save Australia.
Plot
A motley crew of Australian militiamen or 'chocos' from the 39th Battalion are stationed in a New Guinea village just after the Japanese invasion. The 39th Battalion are the only troops available to hold off the Japanese advance until the AIF arrives to relieve them. The story centres on an infantry section of the 39th Battalion. The section with their platoon commander, a veteran AIF lieutenant (Ben Barrack) who has served in North Africa, is on forward patrol when they are attacked by a Japanese force. The lieutenant is killed early in the battle and the section, led only by a recently promoted lance-corporal, Max (Simon Stone), decide to fall back. One of the men, L/Cpl Wilstead (Ewen Leslie), is bayoneted in the face by a Japanese soldier, and a Bren gunner called Blue (Christopher Baker) offers to stay and provide cover. However, the remaining men are cut off and surrounded in the dense jungle, with little hope of escaping. The Australians try to remain hidden until nightfall, when Darko (Travis McMahon) and Jack (Jack Finsterer) decide to go and find out where Blue is. They stumble across Blue, who is tied up and being tortured by Japanese soldiers. Darko and Jack look on helplessly as the Japanese soldiers bayonet him in the stomach and groin, and finally decapitate him with a sword. They return to their hiding place, shaken by what they have seen. The Japanese ambush the section and they run further into the jungle. Caught behind enemy lines in harsh terrain, Jack, to whom the others (including his brother, Max, have deferred) tries to maintain command of a small group of men. Suffering from malaria and dysentery, the remaining six men decide to make their way to Isurava, where the remainder of the 39th are fighting a desperate battle.
One of the soldiers, Sam (Steve Le Marquand), has been injured in the leg and orders the rest of the section to leave him behind. They refuse and he struggles along with a crutch. After a full day of walking, the men are exhausted. The next morning they awake to find Sam gone, having hidden himself in a hollow tree stump to avoid holding them up.
The men continue and are ambushed by a Japanese patrol. The Japanese soldiers are all killed, but Max is badly wounded by a gunshot to the stomach and is unable to walk. He is carried by all the men.
The section makes it to a village that has been destroyed by the advancing Japanese, and the Australians decide to take refuge. They bury the dead native villagers and an argument arises between Jack and Darko, a tough soldier who carries the section's Bren gun, over Max. Darko wishes to leave him behind as he is slowing the section down and they are needed at Isurava. Jack, however, wants to stay with him. However, Max decides to stay and let the others go and Johnno (Tom Budge), who has severe dysentery, stays with him. The men agree, and Jack, Darko and Burke (Luke Ford), Darko's number two, head off to Isurava. The journey becomes treacherous and Burke's dysentery is getting worse.