Passchendaele - The Movie

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

I thought I should let you know that Sally and I went to see the early afternoon show just up the street. It's amazing.

I knew it would be good, because Paul Gross is pretty much incapable of doing anything bad, and because in part at least, the story is based upon his own grandfather's related experiences in WW1. Paul is one of the few in the business who believe in preserving the memories in much the same way we do.

Passchendaele is a movie which, had Hollywood had a hand, would have cost at least three times as much to make and wouldn't carry nearly the same weight. This was done by Canadians, in Canada, but beats the calibre of most Canadian films hands-down, mostly due to Paul's insights. It really is outstanding, in all respects. If anything, the first half played too long where more of the second would have been more welcome, but I do understand his point. Overall, the movie leaves you stunned, quite unwilling and unable to move; the battle scenes are the most realistic I have ever seen outsaide of Band of Brothers, but in some ways even better, for to replicate the mud and the blood and the soaking wet misery of Passchendaele in a unique challenge in itself.

I urge anyone who can to see this film, and preferably on the big screen. Artistically it's a masterpiece; even just as a war movie I daresay it sets the standard for years to come.

Two thumbs up/five rifles from this house!

Now only if I can talk Paul into doing the same thing for The Scheldt...

[zemsi]

... the official website with a trailer. Looks very good to me but I don't think it will be shown in any Swiss cinemas

[Richard Coutts-Smith]

Geoff,
don't be too hard on your Canadian film/TV industry, most of the stuff we get over here, from over there is, is very good. Love the sense of humour, just a wee bit more subtle than your Southern neighbours.
NB I've broken our National Oath in praising another country, and so promise not to do so again.
Rich.

[John McGillivray]

I plan on going to see the film this afternoon. There are more clips about the film on Sympatico.

http://remembrance.sympatico.msn.ca/

[charlie fitton]

We were invited (as members of the Army Reserve) to go and see a preview of this flick.

For the most part quite good, but it didn't have much to do with Paschendale at all.

I think I've seen the best treatment of an artillery barrage in a movie - possibly next to A Bridge Too Far. It was actually awe - inspiring.

One of the NCO's thought it was just a good way to explain how Grandma got knocked up by a soldier.......

[Ed Storey]

Please, explain to me how this movie is very well done. I saw this motion picture when it was first released and contend it is an insult not only to the memory of those who fought in the Great War but to Canadian Nursing Sisters in particular.

[Richard Farrant]

Hi Stuart,
Thanks for sharing your father's letter. Very moving and the real story, not like the history books as you say.

regards, Richard

[Richard Farrant]

Once again, thank you, very good accounts.

[Ed Storey]

I can understand that in the motion picture business some artistic and technical liberties have to be taken, but in the case of Passchendaele the liberties taken were too farfetched. Being human, nothing is 100 percent perfect, I understand that and I also understand that past military events can be mulled over and discussed at length.

The trouble with Passchendaele is that it was marketed as our, as in Canada's story and it was passed off as history. Unfortunately the motion picture was neither; it was pure fiction, and bad fiction at that. Take for instance the lead female figure, a once cashiered, German descendant, drug addicted, thieving Army nurse who shacks up with a NCO and gets laid behind the gun lines in France. The nurse is quite a colourful character, but one that in my opinion insults and dismisses the great work done by Canadian nurses during the Great War as the character did not reflect the type of woman who served as a nurse during the period. Remember, the argument touted in this country is that Canadians do not know their history, yet when we have a chance to present to the public a small segment of our history, we resort to feeding them rubbish and then label it as history.

As well, there are no Great War Veterans alive to defend their actions, so we are left with a Canadian movie producer who can write and film anything he wants without any fear of retribution from those who were there. Try making a movie in Canada that would even hint at any sort of bombing of German civilians by the RCAF during WWII and see what sort of backlash you get. To top things off, Passchendaele was even distributed to schools, again reinforcing the myth that the movie was some sort of historical production rather than a work of fiction.

Unfortunately quite a number of Canadians from government and museum officials right on down to the average citizen jumped onto the Passchendaele movie bandwagon not because it was a movie that accurately depicted the era or the battle, but simply because it was made in Canada.

When it comes to marketing our history and telling the story, we can do a better job we just need to set the bar much higher.

This is what I wrote about the movie when I first saw it in 2008.

Yuck!! October 17 2008

I paid nearly $10.00 to see this motion picture in order to show my support the Canadian movie industry. I can best sum up this movie by saying that in my opinion I frittered away the price of admission and wasted 2 hours of my life. This movie is bad on all levels. The plot was weak and several times during the movie I wanted to get up and leave as I was just disinterested in the characters and where the movie was leading. Everything about this movie is a farce, I told myself to ignore the litany of technical and factual errors and enjoy the movie but I could not as it was just boring. Too bad really as the subject matter has the potential for a good motion picture, but the end result in Passendaele does not do justice to the people or the events it purports to honour.

There is talk of using this movie in schools to help teach Canadian history, well I hope not. People really need to watch this movie with the same clinical analysis that they would asses a text book and just because it is a ‘made in Canada’ movie does not automatically mean that it is teaching material. I wonder if the various high profile organizations that funded this movie actually had a look at the script to see what they were backing. I also wonder if any of the ‘technical advisors’ listed in the credits had ever picked up a book or had done any research for as I mentioned before you could write a book on the errors in this movie.

Speaking of the credits, the closing credits were the best part, not only did it mean that the movie was finally over but the period archival motion pictures used during the credits were fantastic as they showed the true face of the CEF and not what the producers of Passendaele thought they were.

My advice, for what it is worth, see this horrid movie once, then go and rent “Paths of Glory”, “Gallipoli”, “The Light Horsemen” or the original version of “All Quiet on the Western Front”.

[Gordon Yeo]

Ed

I never commented on the movie Passhendaele when I first saw it, can't say I was great fan of it then. I will now say I agree with a great deal of your comments about the movie. Well said.

Gordon

[rob love]

Mr Gross came out to Kandahar when I was there to give free views of his Passchendaele movie but I must have been busy that week, and did not partake. It was my understanding he was also researching for this next movie. There should certainly be no reason not to have the technical end of it correct, as there were plenty of advisers around who had experienced the real thing. Personally, I had a sheltered 20 months there in total as a civilian in KAF, and hardship to me was when the bank machine wouldn't put out.

[Ed Storey]

You cannot imagine the stench at this site. The smell was so bad you could almost taste it.

[rob love]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

You cannot imagine the stench at this site. The smell was so bad you could almost taste it.

The smell was so thick you could eat it with a fork.....but use a spoon: you'll want every last drop.

I have a T shirt in my pile which is from the stinky pond cafe.

[Stuart Fedak]

If Honey attracts Bees, what does a Kandahar Poo Pond attract?

It is obviously a saleable tourist commodity, as it attracts tourists, it's own café (The Smelly Pond) and a brand of t-$hits .... errr t-shirts.. Perhaps this will be the long lasting legacy of the Canadians in Afghanistan.

Cheers!
Stuart

[Ed Storey]

The Poo Pond may have been an odorous somewhat humorous tourist attraction; but never forget that the Afghanistan Legacy is the 158 fatal Canadian casualties and those Canadians who suffered and still suffer from injuries attained while serving their country.

The lasting legacy should never become some stinky sewage-pond on a NATO airfield.

[rob love]

The legacy was supposed to be the relief of Taliban rule, the education and equal rights of women, and bringing peace and stabilization to the area. The cost to Canada was 158 Cdn fatalities and uknown numbers of casualties.