A Bridge Too Far

"Quite frankly," observes 'Boy' Browning, "this kind of thing's never been attempted before." But it has. In 1962, "The Longest Day" gave the epic star-studded treatment to the D-Day landings, and here we are, 15 years on, doing the same for the Arnhem debacle. It has to be said, the film looks great. From the gently-tinkling light fittings in the Dutch resistors' home to the beauty of the tank tracks in perspective, this is a gorgeously-photographed movie.

In 1944, the German armies were being pushed back across the Low Countries. The Allies' great strategic problem was the Rhine, the wide river which formed Germany's western border. A daring plan was conceived which would overcome the Rhine obstacle and open the road to Berlin. 'Market Garden', as the plan was codenamed, involved parachuting spearhead units onto the great bridges over the Rhine and securing them for the critical few hours it would take for an armoured column to drive up and relieve them.

It is easy now to point to the flaws in 'Market Garden', but at the time it looked like a daring and viable alternative to slogging it out against the Siegfried Line. No-one had anticipated that the Dutch people would pour out onto the streets in throngs, thinking that they had been liberated, and thus bog down the armour. The intelligence indications of heavily-equipped German units in the zone were ignored because they were inconvenient. Critically, the plan allowed for only one solitary road to be available to the Irish Guards for the all-important northward thrust. The film illustrates very effectively the way in which a plan can develop its own momentum, regardless of the shortcomings which riddle it.

The sequence of the boarding and dropping of the paratroops is a thrilling spectacle, shot on a colossal scale. The German ambush which delays the rolling of the armoured column is another terrific action sequence. Attenborough keeps tight control of a big, complex story, and interlards the large-scale stuff with 'human scale' passages, like James Caan's rescue of his buddy (incidentally, the tracking shot which follows his jeep through the forest is quite remarkable).

The fighting at Nijmegen is brilliantly-filmed. Note how the street on the British side grows increasingly littered with war debris as the battle rages. Robert Redford's assault across the river is a symphony in olive drab, leading to a wonderful moment of exhilaration.

Whether the viewer finds the singing of "Abide With Me" moving or grossly sentimental will depend on personal taste, but the subdued ending is very satisfying. 'Market Garden' may have helped shorten the war and may have achieved most of its immediate objectives, but it has to be seen as a tragic mistake.

The film is slick, professional and very pleasing on the eye. One can't help wondering, however, if this kind of 'tank opera' was worth the effort, given that "The Longest Day" had done it all so splendidly a generation earlier.

"Private Ryan" may have served up more blood and guts, but it had a fanciful plot and it didn't really tell audiences anything about D-Day. By contrast, "A Bridge Too Far" is like something the History Channel would produce; it's full of maps and narration and endless tactical discussions that, amazingly enough, really held my attention - and really enlightened me about the battle of Market Garden.

It helps that the ensemble cast is great - perhaps the best ever assembled - and the characterization, though a bit thin (as in most war movies), is certainly good enough considering how heavily the plot dominates. The film's one major weakness is that it telegraphs the battle's result from too early on; all the smart characters think that the operation will be a disaster, and lo and behold, it's a disaster.

I love this movie anyway, maybe because of the production style, which is more realistic than the cornball war films of previous decades but not quite so over-the-top as "Private Ryan." The battles are both thrilling and terrifying, a nicely struck balance. When the end credits roll, I always feel tired - like the characters - which is a testament to how involving (and effective) the movie is.

Last week, September 13 to 19, 2004, Operation Market Garden happened exactly 60 years ago. It was maybe the last remembrance of Operation Market Garden with a sizable number of veterans present from as far afield as Australia, the USA, Britain, and Poland. It was VERY impressive to see them marching or driving over the John Frost Bridge in the centre of Arnhem, where the battle had its climax. The veterans I talked to told me they really enjoyed the warmth with which they were received, by both the young and old Dutch people. Many were moved emotionally.. and many visit the remembrance annually, as far as their health permits (they are all in their 80s of course).

Other memorable events were the air droppings on the Ginkelse Heide (heath), and the ceremony at the military cemetery at Oosterbeek, attended by the Queen of Holland and the Prince of Wales.

For those who are interested, here are some good websites with info on the battle:

http://www.marketgarden.com

http://members.lycos.nl/marketgarden44

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/battle_arnhem_01.shtml

http://www.rememberseptember44.com

Hope someone found this useful. Hans, from Holland.

Quite a few bad things have been written about A Bridge Too Far. Richard Attenborough's elephantine recreation of the battle for several strategically valuable Dutch bridges in the winter of 1944 is a star-studded, lengthy and exhausting film (and many critics at the time seemed to be of the opinion that it collapsed beneath its own weight). Almost thirty years on, the film is now viewed somewhat more favourably. It may feel 30 minutes too long, and the need for so many stars in so many tiny parts is questionable, but A Bridge Too Far successfully shows a fierce episode of the Second World War in all its chaotic glory. Incredibly, there's no use of the computer generated effects during the big battle scenes that it is relied upon in modern films like Gladiator and Troy. The scenes in this film were shot pretty much as you see them - so the 35,000 parachutists storming Holland, the river crossing led by Robert Redford under intense enemy fire, and other such staggering combat sequences were filmed with thousands of extras and a good deal of meticulous planning and preparation.

The film is based upon Operation Market Garden, an Allied plot hatched towards the end of 1944 with the intention of ending the war in Europe. The concept behind the plan was to drop 35,000 soldiers into Holland approximately 60 miles beyond the German lines, to seize six vital bridges, and to reinforce the paratroopers by sending in thousands of ground troops. However, various mishaps jeopardised the mission and eventually the Allies were cut off and had to withdraw, suffering severe losses.

As stellar casts go, A Bridge Too Far still takes some rivalling. Among the many famous actors involved, these are just a few: Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Laurence Olivier, Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins and Elliott Gould. It seems pointless for some of the actors to be cast in these roles - true enough, Connery, Bogarde and Hopkins get decent roles and a fair bit of screen time, but was it really worth paying Redford $2,000,000 for his ten minute heroics? Could a decent actor have not handled the role for a fraction of that amount? Is Gene Hackman really the correct choice for Polish officer Major General Stanislaw Sosabowski? Should a light comic actor like Elliott Gould be doing his cigar-chomping "fun" turn in a movie as serious as this?

Luckily, the film is a big success on other levels. The cinematography is extraordinary; the music is suitably stirring; the potentially confusing story is handled with clarity and true-to-the-facts sensitivity; and amid the chaos a number of very memorable scenes emerge. A Bridge Too Far is a very good war film - maybe the biggest war film ever conceived (The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan included) - and I feel that, although it has a few casting flaws, it is in almost every other department a great, great achievement.

In the autumn of 1944 Field Marshall Montgomery conceived a plan called Operation Market Garden that would open a corridor across the Rhine river and allow Allied troops to attack the heartland of Germany. When he and his staff devised the plan the Allied forces were being held in their positions by both German resistance and lack of supplies. At the time it appeared the war would evolve into the same static-front contest of attrition which occured in the first world war and led to horrible loss of life on all sides.

A Bridge Too Far is such an accurate portrayal of the events which occurred during Operation Market Garden that much of the criticism for the film is veiled criticism of the plan itself and of the actions of the participants. The criticism of Montgomery is undeserved, as he was a capable, if seemingly over cautious general. The plan was the boldest of any that were made during the war and the reasons Eisenhower approved it instead of one by Montgomery's rival Patton are valid. The results of the operation have been incorrectly regarded by some as a failure, but in fact it made the defense of Germany untenable and facilitated the final push into Germany during the spring of 1945.

The film itself is well written and contains imagery of battles and troop movements of a scale that has not been equaled, at least in any realistic manner. Earlier comments have been made that Attenborough's attention to detail has resulted in an overly lengthy film but I disagree with that assessment. Any film which depicts a part of the war which directly effected the second half of the 20th century should be given as much time as necessary to tell it's story. There is only one part of the film that has no direct bearing on the narrative of events and that is the sub plot involving James Caan's character, which does add 20 minutes to the running time of 3 hours.

The scenes showing the drop of the British and American airborne forces are visually stunning and worth the price of a DVD for their own sake. Anthony Hopkins is at his best as the unenviable forward commander at the final bridge at Arnhem. My only regret is that the actual glider landings were not depicted, presumably because of the risk involved.

The film should be considered required viewing by anyone who claims to be a war film fan, or anyone interested in the events which occurred during the second world war.