Some of the less 'glorious' aspects of life on the home front during WWI are better captured in this film than in any other drama I've seen to date. The ritual humiliation of anyone of age who hadn't joined up and the vilification of anyone one with German parentage were day-to-day occurrences that are rarely mentioned. A fairly good opening battle scene is bought almost to a close with a very curious coup de grace inflicted by Michael Dunne on a young German soldier. This action was so peculiar that I'm sure it must be based on something Paul Gross's grandfather had mentioned to him when recollecting the events of his service during WW1 upon which this film is based. Unfortunately, like several other critical action points in the film, the way it is staged jars as unrealistic and unnecessary. Though it was perhaps significant as a memory, in the context of this film it distracts us from an otherwise interesting narrative and ultimately reduces the overall impact. Later, an iconic photograph of Passchendale - of shattered trees with duckboards crossing an impassible quagmire - is wonderfully recreated. Only to be wrecked a few moments later by out of scale soldiers strolling through the impassable mud alongside the duckboard track. Later still the scene with the faux crucifixion and finally the ranks of tombstones (a very poor CGI substitute for the final scene of 'Oh what a Lovely War'). There was a lot of great material in this film, and the overview of the battlefront and the scenes of hand to hand combat in the shell holes are second to none, but the inexperience of Paul Gross as both writer and director gets the better of him and this is definitely a case where less artifice and symbolism would have produced a better film.
Review of Passchendaele
