Dir:  Paul Gross   Stars:  Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas, Gil Bellows

Synopsis:  Passchendaele is not only hard to spell --- it's also the story of writer/director/star Paul Gross' grandfather, Michael Dunne, a soldier who served at the Battle of Passchendale.

10 Second History Lesson!!!  (Got your timers ready?  GO!)  The Battle for Passchendaele happened in 1917 when Canadian and South African troops took on the Germans for control of the Belgium village of Passchendaele.  The battle was famous for being synonymous with the misery of combat in thick mud and rain (which also looks great on film, incidently).

The movie Passchendaele looks like a war movie in the trailers, but it's actually more of a romantic drama about sweethearts separated by duty that plays out against the backdrop of war.  The romance borders dangerously on melodrama, some of the writing is cliched, and some of the acting is over the top.

The film is careful not to paint a pro-war message --- it often comes off as a heartfelt tribute to Canadian troops fighting their first international war.  And it's either a film at odds with it's own message --- OR --- it successfully captures the contradiction in such thinking.  What I mean is, one minute the film is about heroes and sacrifice, and the next it's showing us the brutal modern reality of war.  Two ideas that don't often work well together.  In fact, it will be interesting to see how Passchendaele plays in the international market.  Films about honour and glory aren't real popular these days.  The battle scenes, by the way, were shot in Calgary and look stellar.

Passchendaele is like a cross between Titanic and Saving Private Ryan.  It's likeable, but hammy in places.  I really want to express though, that I'm very proud of Paul Gross as a filmmaker for always pushing to play big and capture a slice of the popular entertainment pie, but I wish he could turn that into a movie that's a bit more rebellious and better written.  He raised something like 20 million dollars to make this movie.  He understands that the funding has to be there to compete with similiar Hollywood fare, and that lack of money has always been a big part of the failure of Canadian mainstream movies to make an impact on even it's own citizens.  I think if Gross mixed his big thinking with quirkier stories, he'd really break through, but Passchendaele is a movie that I think most Canadians would get something out of.

3 Dorks out of 5 on the Geek-o-Meter!