Well Go USA presents a Prince-Wright Productions film. Produced and directed by Jordon Prince-Wright. Written by Jarrod Russell; story by Jordon Prince-Wright. Cinematography by Daniel Quinn. Edited by Saxon Wright. 

Stars Levi Miller, Travis Jeffrey, Myles Pollard, Tim Franklin, Jordan Dulieu, Peter Sullivan, Ed Oxenbould and Stephen Peacocke.

A young man from the Outback goes to war with not just the enemy but his fellow soldiers and himself in this riveting Australian drama from Jordon Prince-Wright.

Jim Collins is a young man in the Outback who has been drafted to join the military during World War I. Nervous as he has never seen life outside his home, Jim must prepare for a new world as he joins the Western Front as part of an alliance with the British forces. To prepare, the troopers dig trenches in order to go into hiding and ambush the enemy forces. At times, Jim gets along with some of the soldiers, but others clearly see him as green and thus, tend to taunt him.

As the war rages on over the course of two years, Jim finds himself in one situation after another. When he is tasked with bringing an injured soldier to a nearby nurse’s station, he is vaguely told to get some medicine and to leave. When during a battle he inadvertently leaves a fellow soldier behind, he is called out and nearly beaten for his actions. Jim realizes the horrors of war and must endure all that he can to survive. 

When it comes to war films, we always tend to hear more about the big battles like D-Day and Vietnam to name a few. Very rarely do we hear about the more lesser-known battles as the idea of war and being there have impacted numerous former soldiers who have seen and experienced the horrors of it. For Jordon Prince-Wright, a young Australian filmmaker, he has done his research to focus on the local battle of the Western Front as seen through the eyes of a young man from the Outback. 

Using historical notes and basing the film on actual events written by those who had experienced the Western Front battle between 1916 and 1918, he used a few references to create the lead character of Jim Collins, played by an excellent Levi Miller. Shot in 2021, we see Miller pull off a great lead performance and perhaps, the one who goes through the most change. Playing a green soldier from the Outback, it is clear he was not prepared for what he is set to experience. 

While there are other soldiers who may seem just as green as Jim, there are those who have more confidence and at times, they pick on Jim because of his status as they can clearly see how nervous he is. However, when it comes to digging the trenches, you can see the union between the soldiers as they literally dig the trenches themselves in the rain. This clearly shows the passion Miller and the cast bring in showing a sense of authenticity to the events of the Western Front battles. 

There are a lot of tense moments that help Jim come of age in a manner like never before. In two pivotal moments, we see Jim experiencing how much war has affected not only him, but those around him. One is the nurse’s station, in which he drags a mortally wounded soldier and is nearly rebuffed due to a shortage of nurses compared to the wounded. The other is when Jim leaves behind a soldier and is called out on and nearly beaten up by one of the more senior officers of the platoon. This is the moment where Jim slowly begins to realize what’s at stake and tries to find the confidence needed to survive along with the others. 

Before Dawn is a combination of military drama and coming-of-age film driven by a great lead performance by Levi Miller as well as showing shades of authenticity as to what Australian forces experienced during WWI. A winner for Jordon Prince-Wright.

The film will be released in select theaters and on Digital on July 19.