I recently saw "Revealing Gallipoli" on the History Channel and was deeply impressed with all aspects of its 90 minute production.

"Revealing Gallipoli" uses three presenters to tell the story from an Australian, an Irish and a Turkish perspective. The narrative seamlessly inter-cuts between a global overview of the campaign and small, deeply personal elements that convey the human side of the tragedy.

Without diminishing the contributions of the other presenters, I found the contribution of the Turkish presenter, Savas Karakas, to be absolutely outstanding. Karakas is (according to the Melbourne Age) a "major Turkish TV celebrity" and he is clearly a talented and experienced presenter. His presentation is constantly engaging and passionate, despite English not being his native language.

"Revealing Gallipoli" is also very evenly balanced and shows both sides of the fight - something few other documentaries of this doomed campaign have ever achieved. I confess I was initially a little shocked at the ANZACs being constantly referred to as "the enemy", but Karakas really conveys the passionate determination and profound dignity of the Turkish people who were simply defending their homeland.

As a side-note, if you're an ardent supporter of the WWI British High Command then you might not enjoy this very much, as the documentary squarely lays all the blame for the catastrophe with Churchill, Kitchener and Hamilton.

I've since tried to obtain a DVD version but for some absurd reason it is only being sold at $90 a copy. This is a stupid decision by the production house which prevents a wider distribution of what is an excellent documentary.