peterewilliams
This is a load of pretentious overblown rubbish with a ridiculous and totally absurd plot. The characters are caricatures, the direction is leaden. As others have commented- the battle scene at the end is well done - unfortunately you have to put up with the rest - wasting 90 minutes of your life
juneebuggy
Paul Gross wrote, directed and stars in this ambitious (yet still very CBC feeling) epic, following the exploits of the Canadian soldiers who fought in one of the key battles of World War 1 in 1917. The story follows Gross as a troubled veteran, his nurse girlfriend and a naïve boy who intersect first in Alberta and then through the bloody battle of Passchendaele.You can just tell that Paul Gross put his heart and soul into this and I really, really wanted to be impressed, finally getting the Canadian side of events after so many WW1 movies that just deal with the American or British. Unfortunately though its not great.Yeah it has its moments, it's visually impressive, the battle scenes are very well done, the trench warfare, the mud, the rain, the carnage and I got very caught up in the ending despite myself but this is also melodramatic at times, kinda choppy and (as I said) has a made for TV feel despite the big budget. Guys will be disappointed too because for the most part this is a love story.Still I am haunted by the ending, that final shot of the wooden cross in Calgary with the Bow river in the background infused with the white stone graves in France, beautiful. 11/16/14
cyberdew41
At 20 million dollars, PASSCHENDAELE was the most expensive Canadian movie ever produced. And I think it's fair to say that every dollar of that budget shows on the screen. From the ultra-realistic battle scenes at Ypres and Passchendaele, to the portrayal of Calgary as a small prairie town at the turn of the 20th century, it is faithful to the visuals of what it must have been like to live at that time. PASSCHENDAELE is a throwback to the kind of war movies made by John Wayne, albeit with a hero in the throes of neurasthenia (PTSD) for having needlessly killed a young German soldier in a particularly cruel fashion. It wavers between glorifying the soldiers who fight in war, while criticizing war itself, especially the old men who stay safe at the home front and shame young men into joining the army.This movie is amazing in that it is a war epic quite literally made by one man, Paul Gross. Gross, wrote, solicited funding, produced, directed, starred, and even wrote the song "After the War" for this movie. I'm a fan of war movies, and it was this fact that led me to first watch PASSCHENDAELE. I must say, that for a one-man war film, it is astounding. I really enjoyed it. Other reviewers have commented on anachronisms in the speech of the characters. Actually, the slang is current to the WWI period, even though it may sound surprisingly modern to our ears. For example, at one point Sgt. Dunne says the line, "I can lose the uniform." In context this means, "I don't need to wear my uniform to the dance." At first this sounded anachronistic to me. Then I did some research. There are parts of America and Canada that were heavily influenced by non standard English... and I'm happy to say "I can lose the..." would have been around during the WWI era. (It was around in twelfth century Scot's Gaelic, in fact, which is presumably how it entered the English language.) Another criticism is that of the "plastic love story". I found it as believable as that between Rose and Jack in TITANIC, and more so. The love story is between the character played by Paul Gross, Sgt. Michael Dunne, and his nurse, Sarah Mann, played by the wonderful Caroline Dhavernas. The cast is rounded out by wonderful Canadian character actors, many of whom will be recognizable to fans of The Murdoch Mysteries, due SOUTH, Slings & Arrows, and others.Michael and Sarah have a strangely unrequited love; hers being dependent on him keeping her brother safe in the war. I wanted the characters to have more of a love story while the movie spent time on the home front in Canada. In my opinion, it would have strengthened the power of the ending.Yet, this is a very powerful piece. I would caution families against showing it to young children, as the battle violence is quite realistic. Sexual scenes are relatively tame and brief, for this day and age, and more is left to the viewers' imagination than to the screen. (refer to the Parents'Guide for specifics.) Quite wisely too, I think, PASSCHENDAELE was given an "R" rating -- I believe because of the war violence. I think it would be OK to show to teens with parental guidance, especially if they are studying WWI in school. Like its spiritual predecessor, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, the violence is not gratuitous: it shows the utter brutality and sheer waste that war can be. Nevertheless, the visuals are brutal and disturbing. Something that parents would want to talk to their kids about.PASSCHENDAELE highlights the tremendous contribution Canada made to WWI. The sheer numbers of men killed were staggering. It glorifies the bravery of the individual soldier and of the platoons, while showing the futility of the war. It has a place in the war movie collection of any fan of the genre.
