Sisters are doin' it for themselves

A thin cloud of smoke rolls down a steep, almost vertical, embankment as about 30 people try to negotiate their descent through a thick layer of jungle. Some older members of the party slip and stumble as they cautiously step over the jagged rocks that litter the forest floor. Peering out from behind a tree, I watch, as Japanese soldiers direct nuns, nurses, clergymen, Papua New Guinean natives and a bishop to what look like hastily erected wooden huts.

The group begins to file into the huts, which are held together by strips of material and more wood, and slightly elevated off the ground, as Japanese soldiers continue to bark orders. Towering over the scene are huge trees that more resemble Ents in The Lord Of The Rings than anything from the human world. I am in a prisoner of war camp, watching Australian missionaries as they take in the weathered cubbies that will become home for the next several months.

``Annnnd cut!'' screams director Brendan Maher, the man in charge of recreating this pivotal scene for Sisters Of War. Like an army of tree people, camera operators, assistant directors and make-up technicians start filing out of the jungle into the camp, busily preparing the actors and making adjustments to the set before the next scene starts. A photographer snaps a nun as she strikes various poses under an almost celestial beam of sunlight that filters through the canopy. The nun's face is familiar. It takes a second look before I realise she's former Australian Idol contestant Paulini Curuenavuli (below). Sisters of War is Curuenavuli's first foray into acting and the popstar is barely recognisable in the all-white garments, the uniform of the Roman Catholic nuns. ``Really, you couldn't ask for better light,'' says producer Andrew Wiseman as he admires the surroundings.
``It's like nature's own lighting technician.''
A veteran of the Australian film industry, Wiseman has worked on more than a dozen film and television projects and won two AFI awards for My Brother Jack (best telefeature) and After The Deluge (best mini-series). He hopes Sisters Of War, a uniquely Australian tale of extraordinary courage, will be his magnum opus.
``It's an important one that needs to be told,'' he says.
However, the story of the nuns' capture was almost lost forever.
Auctioneer Rod Miller stumbled across the lost diary of civilian nurse Grace Kruger in 1991 while he was clearing out an estate.
``He nearly threw it out,'' says Wiseman.
``Eventually he found seven other diaries and started to piece (the story) together.
``It was written in cryptic prose. Many of the women kept diaries but destroyed them in case the Japanese found them.''

It was not until Miller began working with writer John Misto that the story began to take shape. The wartime diaries formed the basis of the material for Sisters Of War. Interviews were also conducted with Sister Bernice Twohill, former army nurse Lorna Whyte and other survivors. Wiseman says the crux of the story is the friendship that developed between Sister Bernice and Lorna during their time in captivity. Fresh from her role in the big-budget mini-series The Pacific, Claire van der Boom stars as Sister Bernice, with NIDA graduate Sarah Snook as Lorna. Scottish-born actor Gerald Lepkowski, last seen in Beneath Hill 60, is the group's leader, Bishop Leo Scharmach. He leads the group out of the jungle and down into a valley as the director calls `cut' on another take.
The 40ha Tamborine property where the scene is set has been used for film and TV productions including Daybreakers, Nim's Island, Scooby-Doo, Sea Patrol, Elephant Princess and Kokoda.Wiseman filmed a two-part television documentary, also called Kokoda, at the site and says he knew it would be the perfect location for his new production's nuns' mission, prisoner-of-war camp and some serious stunts.
``There is bombing, aerial shots, explosions... but I can't give away too much,'' he says.
``It's a project where we've had many consultants, both Australian and Japanese military experts and nurses.
``We're trying to put together as many resources as we can to make history breathe.
``Just because it's on the small screen, that doesn't diminish its value.''

The TV movie's $4 million budget is bigger than that of most Australian films. It's obvious the money has been put to good use, with set designers recreating the nuns' dormitories and the hospital in which they treated injured soldiers.
``A lot of the props for inside the buildings had to be specifically sought out to fit the time and place perfectly,'' says Wiseman as he shows off his new hospital.
``The costumes, too, are all authentic, with some of them coming from The Pacific shoot, which was handy.''
The crew set up an exterior scene to film prisoners walking along a dirt road on their way to camp. A technician uses what looks like a giant vacuum cleaner to blow smoke across the path for dramatic effect. Between takes, Lepkowski (above, far right) wanders over to greet us and discuss his character, Bishop Leo Scharmach.
``Ultimately he's a good man but it's complex,'' he says.
``He has to make a lot of compromises and collateral damage to keep his nuns alive.
``He was a tough cookie, this bishop. He did get worn down but he was still quite principled.''
Lepkowski feels a deep respect for the bishop who served as a stretcher bearer in WWI before surviving his prisoner of war experience in WWII. He says the bishop returned to Papua New Guinea to rebuild his mission after the war.

Filming on Tamborine will wrap this week as interior shots at the Village Roadshow Studios, at Movie World, continue.When the production caravan packs up and leaves, the Tamborine property will return to what it was a peaceful, sprawling slice of nature; passers-by unaware of the role it has played in retelling one of WWII's forgotten stories.

Sisters Of War will screen on ABC1 later this year.