The Forgotten Battle is a slow burn of a movie that gets some of the historic and military hardware things right but somehow doesn't satisfy as either a personal or historic story.
The setting is the Battle of Scheldt in late 1944 which offers the cinematic rarity of showing the Canadian Army in action as it fought to secure the water approaches to the great port of Antwerp - which was already in Allied hands.
The story follows a young Dutch woman, a British paratroop sergeant who is isolated when his glider goes down, and most interestingly a Dutch national fighting for the Wehrmacht. Borrowing from movies such as Dunkirk or The Young Lions, the movie follows these three very different characters whose paths are destined to intersect by the resolution of the movie.
There are some worthwhile issues here about collaboration and the reasons people make certain choices in the chaos of wartime - and director Matthijs van Heinningen Jr lays them out rather effectively. On this issue, the character of Dr. Visser, a man who hopes to reach compromises with the occupiers is especially sympathetic.
The performances are decent and a lot of care was given to realistic production settings to recreate the campaign - though this was partially ruined when British 1944 paratroops talked about pizza - a massive anachronism.
Two more quick things. It's impossible to believe a real WW II paratroop sergeant would tolerate any of the insubordination the screenwriter dreamed up. Two, it's amazing a Dutch soldier spending two years with the Germans at the Eastern Front (far, far nastier over there) never noticed the Nazis were capable of doing horrible things but realizes that in Zeeland.
Still, the representation of Canadians fighting to take a well-defended causeway was largely historically accurate, even if shown at the Company level.
Overall, however, the movie is so underplayed that it concludes on a rather flat and underwhelming note. It helps not knowing a lot of the social and military realities of WW II and the first great Canadian Army movie remains to be made.
The setting is the Battle of Scheldt in late 1944 which offers the cinematic rarity of showing the Canadian Army in action as it fought to secure the water approaches to the great port of Antwerp - which was already in Allied hands.
The story follows a young Dutch woman, a British paratroop sergeant who is isolated when his glider goes down, and most interestingly a Dutch national fighting for the Wehrmacht. Borrowing from movies such as Dunkirk or The Young Lions, the movie follows these three very different characters whose paths are destined to intersect by the resolution of the movie.
There are some worthwhile issues here about collaboration and the reasons people make certain choices in the chaos of wartime - and director Matthijs van Heinningen Jr lays them out rather effectively. On this issue, the character of Dr. Visser, a man who hopes to reach compromises with the occupiers is especially sympathetic.
The performances are decent and a lot of care was given to realistic production settings to recreate the campaign - though this was partially ruined when British 1944 paratroops talked about pizza - a massive anachronism.
Two more quick things. It's impossible to believe a real WW II paratroop sergeant would tolerate any of the insubordination the screenwriter dreamed up. Two, it's amazing a Dutch soldier spending two years with the Germans at the Eastern Front (far, far nastier over there) never noticed the Nazis were capable of doing horrible things but realizes that in Zeeland.
Still, the representation of Canadians fighting to take a well-defended causeway was largely historically accurate, even if shown at the Company level.
Overall, however, the movie is so underplayed that it concludes on a rather flat and underwhelming note. It helps not knowing a lot of the social and military realities of WW II and the first great Canadian Army movie remains to be made.