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Plot Summary
Set during the height of the First World War, PASSCHENDAELE tells the story of Sergeant Michael Dunne (Paul Gross), a soldier who is brutally wounded in France and returns to Calgary emotionally and physically scarred. While in the military hospital in Calgary, he meets Sarah (Caroline Dhavernas), a mysterious and attractive nurse with whom he develops a passionate love. When Sarah's younger asthmatic brother David (Joe Dinicol) signs up to fight in Europe, Michael feels compelled to return to Europe to protect him. Michael and David, like thousands of Canadians, are sent to fight in the third battle of Ypres, a battle against impossible odds, commonly known as “Passchendaele”. It is a story of passion, courage and dedication, showing the heroism of those that fought in battle, and of the ones that loved them.
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Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
36%- Reviews Counted: 14
- Fresh: 5
- Rotten: 9
- Average Rating: 5.0/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Rotten: Toronto fest opener crudely welds the grisly verisimilitude of Saving Private Ryan to the contempo cultural revisionism of Pearl Harbor but can't forge the disparate tones into a powerful whole.
Rotten: A war movie that can't make up its mind whether war is bad or something one can be proud of.
Fresh: Passchendaele hearkens back to war films of decades past, when patriotism, valour and integrity were presented without irony. But it is infused with the stoicism of people who know it is their job to try to find meaning within an insane situation.
Rotten: The scenes may be embarrassing, but at least Gross can't be accused of playing it safe.
Customer Reviews
Passchendaele
This hit home, having been on both sides of the military coin... Both a soldier and a nursing home front civilian. This shows that war is neither horror nor heroic... Yet, men are.BOTH. I held on to each prejudiced football like an addict who needed one more fix of hope. It gave so much more... Bravo!!! Cheers to those who are human enough to give all they are and can ever be to forward to hope of another.... Cheers to those unafraid of political correctness to proclaim Love and hope and honor in it's rawest form... Possibly no greater gift can another give than his life for a friend.... Jesus knew... And so do men and women who examine themselves and see their strains and stains for what they are... The labor pains of civilization. The greater the effort the greater the reward... This film allows us to examine not only ourselves but our very make, against our history... The deliverance and forbearance of who and what we have chosen to become... And what hope there is for what we still might be.... Bravo and amen.
a decent movie
Think of this movie as the Michael Bay film "Pearl Harbor." Just without the flash and sex to it. This isn't really a war movie (in my opinion) because it doesn't really show the battle of Passchendaele, for the most part its a love story with a little deepness to what war does to a person. If your a person who loves war movies that show how a battle was won or fought, then this isn't your movie. Overall i thought it was decent. I would recommend that you rent this.
A War Movie for the TITANIC Lovers among you
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 and a "plastic love story", and, to some extent, these are valid criticisms. But I ask them, could they single-handedly make a better movie?
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, dueSOUTH, 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 very tame and brief, with no skin showing and more left to the viewers' imagination than to the screen. 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.
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- $7.99
- Genre: Action & Adventure
- Released: 2008
- © Copyright MMVII Passchendaele Films Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed Exclusively in Canada by Alliance Films Inc. All Rights Reserved.