Reviewing Movies

[Spoiler Alert]

Paul Gross wrote, directed, produced, and starred in this one-man tour-de-force. There are times one could wish that Paul Gross, the actor, had left the directing to someone else. Particularly when one begins wondering whether the love story at the heart of this film is going to win out over the war epic. Shot on the Canadian prairies during what must have been a protracted period of rainy weather this evocation of Vimy Ridge shows soldiers up to their waists in mud holes while shells burst all around them and the sky is lit up with star shells. Whether intentional or not the movie pillories the recruitment efforts of rear echelon majors and pokes fun at a British recruiter who questions the immigrant status of a second generation German family. Only generals die asleep at home in their beds. The Canadian running the battle at Passchedaele appears to be one of the few people who actually knows what he’s doing here. The battalion that pulls out when a relief column of 60 pull in are made to look like cowards abandoning their comrades to certain annihilation. The battle scenes take the cliché that ‘war is hell’ to an entirely new level. One is given the impression that it was a miracle that anyone survived this conflagration. At least the hospital scenes are free of the usual buckets of gore directors often order up. Directing one’s own death must be an odd experience in anyone’s book. Taking nothing away from Paul Gross’s considerable abilities one can wish he had a few less irons in the fire. A director less married to the script might have been able to give this movie a bit more focus. An independent director could probably have gotten a better performance from his star.