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With the release of the first-world-war film “Gallipoli” in 1981, director Peter Weir could finally shrug off the nickname he had laboured under since making his first films: “Peter Weird”. Idiosyncratic work like “Homesdale” (1971), “The Cars That Ate Paris” (1974), and the deeply atmospheric, metaphysical dramas “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (1975) and “The Last Wave” (1977) had earned Weir a reputation for making quirky, mysterious, genre-bending films. His gift for creating mood and atmosphere at times overwhelmed his concern with linear narrative. This tendency seemed to change quite consciously with “Gallipoli”. Weir has said the inspiration for the story came from a trip to Anzac Cove in 1976. Flying back to Australia from London, he took a detour to Turkey. At the Gallipoli Peninsula, walking in still-extant trenches, Weir found not just shrapnel and bullet-casings, but also the personal effects of young soldiers. These tiny mementos poking o ....