LIFE UNDERGROUND

Life Underground is created with an interest in the heightened reality of period drama.

It is also so important to tell a resounding story with charismatic characters. In this close-knit world of rank and trust, our characters face their queer identity as a force even more powerful than the shelling. It is not like any period or war drama you’ve seen before, as it equates queer identities with the kind of bravery we frequently see applied to more cultural normative identities. Faced with uncertainty, we all tell ourselves stories about the past in order to make sense of the present. With a deeper understanding of those around us and our own past, we feel ready to experience something new.

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The film is historically accurate and set in a location that audiences are newly aware of—the trenches’ rigid society and terrifying landscape. All of the action in Life Underground is packed into a few cramped metres of freshly dug trench. Close in. Face to face. To capture the reality of that situation, we are working with historical adviser Andy Robertshaw. 

This is a film about opening up to new experiences and new possibilities even at great personal risk. Through confrontation, hardship, and self-reflection, these characters can open up to one another in a meaningful way. In a way, we all recognise today. By referencing the unique hardships of a hundred years ago, Life Underground tells a story for the 21st Century.