Passchendaele (2008)

Genre: Drama

Directed by: Paul Gross

Cast: Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas, Gil Belows

Running time: 114 minutes

During the First World War, Michael Dunne comes back to Alberta, Canada, from the battle of Vimy Ridge an injured soldier. Diagnosed with neurasthenia, he takes a job at home in the recruitment office. He falls madly in love with Nurse Sarah Mann. When Sarah’s younger brother manages to get himself enlisted in the army in spite of his severe asthma, Michael decides to go back in action to protect him, and ends up taking part of the Battle of Passchendaele, in Belgium.

Paul Gross, who cowrote and directed this film, and who plays the lead role, was inspired by the story of his grandfather, a veteran of the First World War. I totally get what Gross was trying to accomplish, as far as homages are concerned, but the end result was not a very satisfying movie. The dialogues felt fake and forced, and the lines were delivered very woodenly by the cast. As for the sets, they made the whole thing look like a cheap Canadian TV series. The premise itself was interesting, but something was lost in the delivery.

In spite of the good intentions of the filmmakers, Passchendaele is a film that you could easily skip, unless something makes you care enough to suffer through its flaws.

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