Passchendaele

[pro-bassoonist]

Paul Gross' Passchendaele (2008) is set to be released in the United Kingdom on December 26. Winner of six Genie Awards, including Best Motion Picture, and Best Cinematography in Theatrical Feature award granted by the Canadian Society of Cinematographers Awards.

*The film is currently available on Blu-ray in Canada.

Official site and trailer:
http://www.passchendaelethemovie.com/

Screen International:

Anyone confronting the horrors of trench warfare in the First World War has to acknowledge the long shadows cast by seminal classics All Quiet On The Western Front and Paths Of Glory. Paul Gross’s ambitious Passchendaele doesn’t try to compete. Instead, the writer-producer-director-star chooses to focus on an Ernest Hemingway-style tale of love and war. Unashamedly old-fashioned and resolutely middle-brow, it unfolds in broad brushstrokes storytelling and heart-on-the-sleeve emotions before bursting into effective scenes of the mud and mayhem of battle. It has the sentimentality of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan but without the guts.

Said to be the most expensive Canadian production ever, Passchendaele should strike a chord on home territory where patriotism, a Toronto opening slot and Gross’s profile will combine to ensure solid returns. Internationally, it lacks the cutting edge or star names that might have made it an epic attraction.

Thoroughly respectable but entirely predictable, Passchendaele reduces one of the key battles in the First World War to a very personal level. A shell-shocked veteran, Sergeant Michael Dunne (Gross) returns home to Canada where he is assigned to help in the on-going recruitment drive. He finds himself attracted to his angelic nurse Sarah (De Havernas), a morphine addict of German parentage. The film’s central section depicts a romance that blossoms in soft-focus sunlight and picture postcard locations before tasting the bitter edge of home front prejudice. Sarah’s young brother David (Dinicol) is an asthmatic whose condition prevents him serving his country. Desperate to prove his worth, he uses a fraudulent medical certificate to enlist. Michael feels he has no option but to follow him and protect him from harm. Both men are on the front line of Passchendaele, a battle that claimed 600,000 casualties on both sides.

Passchandeale is a carefully orchestrated, deeply romantic weepie in which Gross works hard to tug at the heart strings. Impossible love, noble acts and heroic self-sacrifice all pile up to make resistance futile. There even seems to be a touch of slow-motion in one of the big love scenes and a soaring Celine Dion-style ballad (co-written by Gross) to send the viewer out with a tear in their eye. It is not a film for the cynical but there is no denying its sincerity or craftsmanship.

De Havernas lends a touch of steel to the role of Sarah and Dinicol is convincingly high strung and coltish as David. Gross himself is capable as the central character, trying to catch something of the strong silent types that were once the preserve of Gary Cooper although a more charismatic or bankable performer might have helped the film’s commercial prospects internationally. His skills as a director are more impressive especially during the final twenty minutes of battle in which the struggle for survival is reduced to hand-to-hand fighting involving bayonets, rocks and anything that might be used to take a life.

Pro-B

[quirkmanly]

Have you seen this Pro-B? I'd planned to see it, but have never got round to it.

[pro-bassoonist]

Hello,

I did actually see the film awhile ago. I thought that it was very well scripted and most certainly well acted.

Pro-B

[PanaPlasma]

Is this a film about WW and Passendale in Belgium? Is it filmed in Belgium on location?

[DJANGO]

Originally Posted by PanaPlasma

Is this a film about WW and Passendale in Belgium? Is it filmed in Belgium on location?

. . . no, I don't believe so, there is a documentary on the Canadian Blu-ray which goes into the filming, set construction, and it all appears to have been accomplished in Canada - it looks very good . . .

[PanaPlasma]

Ok, because Paul Gross was two years ago here in Belgium to visit military cemetaries in that region (thought his father or someone of his family fought in Belgium).

He did some tv interviews (he's known here for his role in Due South, which was on tv here in the 90's).

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Hello,

I did actually see the film awhile ago. I thought that it was very well scripted and most certainly well acted.

Pro-B

Really want to see your review of this one.

[pro-bassoonist]

Good evening Blu Titan,

Unfortunately, I did not receive a screener for this film. The best I could do is buy the film on my own and offer a review around mid-February (sorry, I have a number of important discs to cover in the next 10-15 days).

Pro-B

[Millibar]

Zoverstocks has this at £1:99 inc delivery

I got excited until I read the review