Imperial War Museum Exhibition
At the Melbourne Museum until 16 August
LONDON’S Imperial War Museum is a truly remarkable place.
You can see the bullet-scarred bronze Nazi eagle from Berlin’s Reichstag.
Or push a button to hear Monty making a speech to his troops at El Alamein (he didn’t have many nice things to say).
Or see a chunk of the Berlin Wall, or the “death clock“ spinning to record human deaths in war.
And that’s before we get to the entrance foyer, complete with fighter aircraft hanging from the ceiling.
The ghosts of empire stalk these hallowed halls – which is why I was so excited to see the museum’s WWI artefacts, a little closer to home in Melbourne.
So I’m disappointed to say that, not only did I find the exhibition underwhelming, I also thought it was a fair bit over the odds at more than $30 a head.
Blimey, Governor, that’s a bit out of order, my Anzac forebears might have said.
There are a couple of big field guns that must have been tough to move but, outside that, most exhibits are small and far from awe-inspiring.
It was interesting to see French Army WWI trousers – bright red to inspire the elan of the troops. A million dead Frenchmen by the end of 1914 put paid to that policy.
And a display of improvised trench clubs and knives is a reminder that, even in this first industrial war, at the end of the day it was all about caving your opponent’s head in.
The display has a very heavy multi-media focus: big flatscreens everywhere project their incomprehensible babble and trendy graphics to every eyeball in sight.
If you believe museums are more about silent contemplation, you’ll be sadly disappointed.
Typically most visitors seem to respond by keeping their eyes resolutely fixed on their pestilential mobile phones, anyway.
If you’re a schoolkid, you’ll come away from this exhibition with some very strange ideas about what WWI was.
Worse, at one point I saw a little old lady using a museum touchscreen to torpedo dreadnoughts or some such – I swear I’m not making this up. Trivialising the war, anyone?
A visit to the Australian War Memorial is about 10 times better than this display: in fact I enjoyed the Upwey-Belgrave RSL museum more. It may be small; but it’s got a heart.
Rather than spend $30 of your hard-earned on this, start saving for an airfare to London – they’re cheap at the moment.
– Jason Beck
