NEW DOCO CAPTURES VOICES AND SPIRIT OF YOUNG AUSSIES AT WAR

A tale of human connection, hope and resilience in the face of great tragedy, director Serge Ou’s latest documentary Under a Bamboo Sky uses new technology to bring to life the unbelievable story of Australian soldiers held prisoner by the Japanese in World War II.

Using their own words, spoken in their own voices, the film weaves the oral testimony of more than 60 former POWs reflecting the culture, language, and individual experience of a place and time with newly colourised archival material and new location footage. The result is a moving, intimate, first-hand account of their wartime experience. After bearing witness to some of WWII’s most history-defining events, the men also tell of returning home after years away, and of the price they paid for the trauma they endured.

“If we can open a window for people to start to understand the experience, we will have honoured these men, both for what they survived, and for their courage in sharing their story as a legacy for future generations,” says Ou (pictured, right), whose production shingle Wildbear Entertainment undertook the daunting research project. “Much of this story has been told before in traditional documentary formats, and many people have heard the stories of the building of the Thai-Burma Railway. But these POWs’ experience has many chapters, each worse than the last. We wanted to tell that story, but elevate the experience for the audience.”

On February 15 1942, British led forces surrendered to the Japanese following the Fall of Singapore and 130,000 Allied troops became prisoners of war, 15,000 of them Australian. Most were moved to Changi Barracks, where they were joined by other Australians captured in Java, Timor and other actions. In May 1942, these Australians were sent in large work parties to other camps in Thailand, Burma, Indonesia and Malaya for tasks including the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway. More than 2,700 Australian POWs died during its construction.

To bring their story visually to life, the filmmakers colourised footage – a first for much of the material in the Australian War Memorial archive – animated photographs of soldiers, and shot new footage in the locations of their captivity. “Starting with the incredible gift of these recorded interviews, we set out to make Under a Bamboo Sky a holistic and immersive experience for audiences to hear, see and feel these men’s experiences,” says Ou. “While listening to their voices, the film is layered with the portraits taken as they entered the military, brought to life on screen.”

Wildbear employed cutting edge A.I. technology to enhance the still images of the young soldiers, giving the impression of a living, present entity, but are quick to point out they did not utilise any generative A.I. in the production. “The underlying language of the film [is] to tie the film together by the men’s voices, telling their own story,” says Ou. “The Australian Army had shot service enlistment portraits of soldiers before they left for war. We were able to include the actual photographs of the men whose voices you are hearing [and] bring those portraits to life. We can see them not as old diggers who march on ANZAC Day, but as the young men they were.”

Serge says “We were so pleased to get permission to colourise the footage so you are not looking at an artefact from outside, which is what black and white footage sometimes evokes. Colour brings you into the moment and takes away a barrier between you and the images – subconsciously you see the soldiers more as people, so we made very intentional decisions to help the audience experience their experience.”

It is only the final frames of the film that you see one of the speakers, Allan Herd (pictured, above), as he was at the age he filmed the interview - 50 years after liberation. Serge says “It felt very impactful, a really potent full stop to the story. The film allows you to look back and contextualise his life, his experiences and what it was like to live with that for the rest of his days.”

UNDER A BAMBOO SKY will have its World Premiere on March 25 in Canberra before special in-cinema events across the country in the lead up to ANZAC Day 2026. Session and ticketing details can be found at the project’s official website.