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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL 28.50)
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Stereo
  Subtitles
  • None
  Extras
  • Audio commentary - episode 6 only

Changi

ABC/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 345 mins . MA15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

There must have been some memorable expressions of surprise around the ABC drama department’s board room table when the suggestion was made. A drama series about the lives of Australian soldiers in Singapore’s notorious Changi prisoner-of-war camp with comedic material and the occasional musical number, Changi was actually originally conceived by writer John Doyle as a sitcom. It’s probably just as well he didn’t go there; reaction to the drama series, when it aired on the ABC, was vehement enough. Outraged letters poured into the offices of newspaper TV guides, decrying the “inaccuracy” of it all, the “disrespect”.

While well intentioned, those outraged letter writers perhaps missed the point slightly. While never shying away from the brutal reality and sheer mundanity of life in the Changi camp, Doyle (who most will more readily know as Roy Slaven of Roy & HG fame) was obviously never attempting to write a historical document with this series. Rather, it’s a six-part series about six of the thousands of Australian prisoners of war in Changi - six army colleagues who became the closest of friends during their years of internment, friendships that defined the rest of their lives.

But it’s the way that this story is handled that makes all the difference. This isn’t a six-episode linear tale of a bunch of mates in a POW camp - instead, it’s a series of stories about each man individually, with the character seen in the present day reflecting on their time in Changi. The cause for all this reflection is an imminent reunion of the six soldiers, who back in the camp had decided to call themselves the “Secret Nine” and promised to meet every nine years once the war was over. This is a promise they’ve kept for decades, but now, as the men grow into old age, the reunion is particularly poignant and the memories especially confronting.

Because the purpose of this story is to tell of strong friendships formed under extreme adversity, the main focus is on the events that affect and strengthen those friendships, as well as the humour, the pranks (usually done at extreme risk to themselves) and the love of a good sing-along (which is where the musical numbers come in, though these are often staged in a surreal, old-movie-musical fashion, very much like the show-stoppers in Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark).

No expense has been spared in creating this terrific, often very moving series. The casting is superb, with a terrific bunch of young actors playing the men in the Changi era and some of Australia’s most respected and recognised older actors portraying the same men in the present day. Terry Norris, one-time cast member of Cop Shop and, more recently, a local politician, is a standout in the third episode Private Bill, in which his character is visited on his retirement day by a girl who bears a striking resemblance to a woman he once knew before heading off to war. This episode is the most emotionally resonant of the series, and makes superb use of the dual-era device. But then, it’s a stand-out in an outstanding series, one which is undeniably Australian in tone and texture (the Australians’ laconic humour is cleverly contrasted with the rigid but still human demeanour of Japanese Lieutenant Aso, for example) but which never resorts to jingoism - in fact, the themes explored here are universal.

Directed with consummate skill and genuine feeling for the material by Kate Woods (who made the wonderful Looking for Alibrandi) and cleverly edited by Christopher Spurr (currently doing similarly fine work on commercial TV with White Collar Blue), Changi boasts high production values, compelling performances and a bunch of stories that draw you in simply because they ring true. It’s a series that’s already been lauded and awarded, and its belated appearance on DVD gives a much wider audience a chance to see why.

  Video
Contract

Presented at 1.78:1 and anamorphically enhanced, this widescreen version of Changi is instantly a better proposition than it was on the ABC, simply because unless you were one of the lucky few who could get digital TV transmissions at the time, you would have seen the cropped 14:9 version that the ABC screened (a compromise often made on the national broadcaster, presumably so as not to scare people away with those Annoying Black Bars!)

Changi was shot on film; we’re guessing 16mm, going by the sometimes-too-obvious level of grain. But that grain isn’t always a film problem; much of it seems to have been added either during the telecine process or in post-production (it’s worth noting, by the way, that the series was edited on film). The same facility and people that did the film transfers for Changi also handle transfer work for The Secret Life of Us, and this looks on a par quality-wise with that series - not state of the art, but still very good, especially given the time and budgetary constraints of telecine on a long TV series.

Shadow detail is sometimes quite lacking, yet at other times is perfectly handled; one can only assume the more washed-out night shots were a deliberate production decision, or maybe just a good old-fashioned case of film underexposure!

The six episodes are stored on two dual-layered discs, with almost the entire disc space used for each set of three (as this is an ABC production, each episode runs for 57 or 58 minutes). The layer change on each disc is stuck right in the middle of an episode, by necessity; both discs’ changes come at almost exactly the same time point in an episode.

By the way, the censorship classification displayed during the opening screens of each disc is incorrect, but the packaging gets it right; for the record, both discs are rated MA.

  Audio
Contract

Unusually for an Australian TV series, audio is provided not only in stereo, but also in Dolby Digital 5.1 - the producers were obviously well aware that a DVD release would be on the cards. Both mixes sound pretty much the same - there’s very little, if any, discrete surround activity in the 5.1 mix, and we’re not entirely sure that it wasn’t created artificially from a stereo master via the use of DSP. But regardless, the 5.1 version offers much better front channel separation and nicely subtle LFE support when needed; choose the soundtrack that matches your system and you’ll be perfectly happy.

By the way, the labelling of the stereo soundtrack in the audio-select menus with the Dolby Stereo logo is somewhat misleading; Dolby Stereo is, of course, the old brand name for Dolby’s matrixed surround sound system, but the Dolby Surround flag on the track has not been set and the mix appears to be in straight stereo.

  Extras
Contract

The only extra feature included is an audio commentary from director Kate Woods (who’s already familiar with this commentary caper thanks to the Alibrandi disc) and writer John Doyle (who’s perfectly at home speaking into a microphone in a deserted studio!) The only episode that features the commentary, though, is the last one, an interesting decision that actually makes good sense; the pair cover a lot of ground about the entire series in their hour. It’s an interesting commentary that at times is more of a conversation between the two, and while we wonder whether commentaries for the other episodes were recorded and not used, you’ll be perfectly satisfied with just this single hour, which offers some nice background into the genesis and production of the series.

Oh, there is one other extra, and we’re going to complain about it every time until whoever it is at the ABC who’s in charge of DVD production gets it removed! It’s that accursed advertisement for ABC Video that auto-plays at the start of every single one of their discs. It’s skippable, sure (though their opening DVD logo isn’t!), but it’s intrusive and annoying nonetheless. It’s also seriously dated - ABC TV is currently using some absolutely superb new logo animations around the clock on broadcast TV, so why does their home video product still sport the daggy old logos from years ago?

  Overall  
Contract

If you normally avoid war dramas and didn’t think Changi was for you, think again. A poignant collection of very human stories set against a background of extreme hardship and challenge, it’s like a good book that you pick up and can’t put down; indeed, this reviewer watched the entire six hours in a single sitting. A story of the past it may be, but it’s relevant to the present both in emotional terms and, of course, literally - it’s rare that a story set in past times is put so successfully into a modern context.

The ABC’s DVD presents the series in its proper widescreen format and with an unexpected 5.1 soundtrack, and is a much better presentation of the episodes than what went to air. If you loved the series, you’ll want this; if you’ve never seen it, now’s your chance.


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      And I quote...
    "If you normally avoid war dramas and didn’t think Changi was for you, think again."
    - Anthony Horan
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-NS300
    • TV:
          Panasonic - The One
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DB870
    • Speakers:
          Klipsch Tangent 500
    • Centre Speaker:
          Panasonic
    • Surrounds:
          Jamo
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Monster s-video
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