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the harsh realities of the war when the platoon walks into a minefield in a rice paddy, losing several men including Phil's friend
Ritchie. Phil is horrified as his unit is ordered to assist South Vietnamese forces to evacuate and destroy a peasant village forcibly. Phil and his best mate Laurie become romantically involved with Vietnamese sisters Lien and Le. Back home, Douglas' workaholic lifestyle is straining his marriage and both parents are growing distant from their increasingly headstrong daughter Megan. The latter begins a relationship with an older boy Serge and she has to, at first, pretend to be a fellow university student to become involved with him. Serge goes away to University in Sydney and Megan later runs away from home to join him. Phil comes home on leave but the traumatic experiences of the war weigh heavily on him and he can no longer adjust to normal life.
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lack of support for returning soldiers. Le tells Phil about her rape and torture and why her sister joined the Viet Cong and he finally breaks down in tears, Le's story putting his own sufferings into perspective, jolting him out of his isolation. Douglas, Evelyn, and Megan have a reunion dinner and afterwards as they are saying goodbye to each other outside, Megan notices someone watching them from a nearby parked Holden ute. It is Phil. He says 'It's me.....sort of.'
33:
297:. Megan goes to live with Serge and both become heavily involved with the antiwar movement. Evelyn later joins the movement, feeling happier in her newfound independence and she and Megan become close again. Serge is called up by the draft but he conscientiously objects, going to prison for his stance.
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features a host of high-caliber
Australian television actors. Veronica Lang, Barry Otto, and Nicholas Eadie (aged 27 at the time) comprised the Goddard family, playing Megan's mother Evelyn, father Douglas and older brother Phil, respectively. Otto is a five-time nominated Australian Film Institute
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Phil and Laurie return to the war which is growing ever more bloodier and cruel. Le is gang-raped by a platoon of US soldiers who have been brutalized by their experiences of combat. One
American soldier is left behind to execute Le but he cannot bring himself to do it, instead, he cuts off one of
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joins the war in
Vietnam and the strains and stresses it places on the Goddard family mirror the political and social upheavals the country experiences in the 1960s. Phil is called up in the national draft and he reluctantly goes to do his duty with Australian army forces in Vietnam. He encounters
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on the day of the show's premiere. The paper added that "The direction elicits absolutely involving performances from a top-drawer cast who endow the piece with subtle flourishes and delightful finishing touches." In another review a few days later, the paper added – "Especially fine are
Nicholas
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Megan has become a leading figure in the anti-war protests and whilst answering questions on a talk-back radio show, her confidence and self-righteous composure are shattered by a surprise call from Phil whose voice she recognizes. Phil's resentment and bitterness make Megan regret her movement's
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Phil returns to
Australia for good, as does Laurie who is joined by Le who emigrates to become the latter's wife, doing her best to care for her disabled and traumatized husband. Phil grows more isolated, not even seeing his family and he becomes self-centered and bitter. He cannot understand nor
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was broadcast in
Australia on 23 February 1987, and received positive reviews from the Australian press. Reviews praised the show's accuracy in portraying society's changing attitudes towards the war, as well as the family dynamic and character development. "There is much to admire and little to
285:. After taking part in an ambush of a group of guerrillas Phil is horrified to discover that one of the dead is Lien. Unbalanced by his discovery he later endangers his fellow soldiers with a grenade during target practice and is thrown out of the unit as a result.
560:. Personal relationships inside and outside the family and the shift in society's attitudes have been penetratingly and evocatively observed. All the characters, including the South Vietnamese for once, have been given an empathetic point of view," wrote
565:
Eadie as Phil, beginning as a finely crafted ordinary bloke and ending as a man who has experienced too much, and Nicole Kidman as the little sister who grows up. It is their relationship, brother and sister, which holds the whole thing together."
281:, her group ambushes an Australian truck, wiping out the occupants including Laurie who is left permanently disabled by his injuries. Phil, increasingly disillusioned with the conduct of the war, joins a unit that specializes in
262:– Public servant Douglas, Evelyn (Veronica Lang), and their son Phil and daughter Megan. Aged 15, Megan is now a rebellious teenager, infuriating her conservative parents while her older sibling Phil is a budding photographer.
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who hold office during the
Vietnam era, the demands of his job absorbing all of his time and energy. Fed up with the lack of attention from her husband and the unfulfilling existence as a housewife, Evelyn moves to
288:
Back in
Australia, the Goddard family begins to be torn apart. Douglas has become a key figure in the political decisions behind Australia's involvement in the war and he serves under all four
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her ears and fires a shot into the dirt, in order to convince his comrades that he had killed her and taken a 'souvenir'. Outraged by the sufferings of her people, Lien joins the
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actor, who built up a solid body of work since his debut in the mid-1970s. Playing Evelyn is
Veronica Lang, an English actress who was a familiar face on TV screens in
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The series concludes with Megan greeting Serge as he is released from prison and the two walk away arm-in-arm to face their future and adulthood together.
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Original broadcast: Channel 10, 23 February 1987 – 27 April 1987.
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Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini Series: Nicole Kidman (
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Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini Series: Nicholas Eadie (
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is a mini-series about Australia's involvement in the
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alongside Kidman in 1985, playing Alison Trig. Both
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200:6 March 1987
158:Running time
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54:Chris Noonan
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841:Miss Potter
458:as Senator
442:John Gorton
433:Harold Holt
429:Henri Szeps
404:as Lt Smart
384:Brett Climo
342:John Polson
256:Vietnam war
240:Logie Award
226:. It stars
224:John Duigan
190:22 February
182:Network Ten
169:$ 7 million
161:437 minutes
144:Terry Hayes
127:of episodes
74:John Duigan
66:Directed by
61:John Duigan
58:Terry Hayes
44:mini-series
1126:Categories
852:Television
763:IMP Awards
673:References
642:Home video
531:Barry Otto
492:Production
410:as Melissa
386:as Ritchie
378:John Allen
366:Grace Parr
318:Barry Otto
228:Barry Otto
204:1987-03-06
194:1987-02-22
135:Production
119:Vietnamese
84:Barry Otto
50:Written by
1069:Lawn Dogs
547:Reception
511:Dead Calm
275:Viet Cong
266:Australia
140:Producers
109:Australia
1085:Paranoid
1029:Flirting
989:Far East
973:Dimboola
661:See also
630:Releases
610:, 1987:
579:, 1988:
574:TV Week
506:Thailand
487:as Tenzy
402:Jim Holt
348:Mark Lee
344:as Serge
260:Canberra
98:Composer
80:Starring
884:Vietnam
769:Vietnam
756:Vietnam
754:(1987)
742:Vietnam
636:Vietnam
623:Vietnam
616:Vietnam
599:Vietnam
592:Vietnam
585:Vietnam
562:The Age
558:Vietnam
553:Vietnam
527:Winners
523:England
518:Vietnam
356:as Lien
252:Vietnam
215:Vietnam
202: (
198: –
192: (
187:Release
179:Network
117:English
25:Vietnam
1112:(2012)
1104:(2004)
1096:(2001)
1088:(2000)
1080:(1999)
1072:(1997)
1064:(1996)
1056:(1995)
1048:(1994)
1045:Sirens
1040:(1993)
1032:(1991)
1024:(1989)
1021:Romero
1016:(1988)
1008:(1987)
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992:(1982)
984:(1981)
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968:(1978)
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895:(1989)
887:(1987)
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863:(1978)
844:(2006)
836:(1995)
828:(1980)
569:Awards
502:Phuket
374:as Deb
295:Sydney
166:Budget
1077:Molly
817:Films
587:(Ten)
368:as Le
40:Genre
860:Cass
833:Babe
712:2020
312:Cast
246:Plot
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125:No.
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