Kokoda is a two-part documentary. Kokoda tells the story of the brutal World War II campaign fought between Australia and Japan in the green hell of the mountains of Papua New Guinea. Told from both the Japanese and Australian perspectives the documentary also explores the impact of the decisions of high command on the soldiers at the front line.

While most Australians have heard of the Kokoda Track the scene of an eight-month campaign that led to the defeat of the advancing Imperial Japanese army and proved a turning point for the Allies in World War II few know much about the struggle that forged its treacherous reputation. No army had fought in such terrible conditions; no Allied general believed it possible.

Fought without mercy by foes with everything to lose, the ferocious battle of the Kokoda Track saw bravery and atrocity, noble and malicious intent on both sides.

From day one of the Kokoda campaign, the fighting was politicised, mismanaged, mythologised and venerated.

Kokoda delves behind the myths of war to tell the story from both sides of the conflict, giving an authentic and comprehensive account of the desperate confusion of war, the intricate connections between the frontline soldiers and military high command; and the political agendas that influenced the campaign and continue to percolate through contemporary Australian society.

To tell the story with authenticity, the Kokoda film crew walked and filmed the length of the Kokoda Track, capturing for the first time the visceral nature of the terrain and the Owen Stanley Mountains. The documentary follows in the footsteps of Australias ill-equipped and poorly trained conscripts, the chocolate soldiers, and the battle hardened troops of the Australian Imperial Forces, walking the treacherous 98-kilometre jungle trail from Port Moresby to Kokoda, then on to the blood-stained battlegrounds of Gona, Buna and Sanananda.

The documentary includes interviews with Australian and Japanese veterans and historians, letters to loved ones, previously unpublished documents, archival footage, dramatisations in Australia and Papua New Guinea, and, for the first time, high-definition sequences filmed over the length of the track. The diaries of entrenched war correspondents Okada Seizo and Chester Wilmot paint an intimate picture of how soldiers on both sides felt during the battles.

Kokoda introduces the key commanders, including controversial American General Douglas MacArthur, Australia