The Liberation Men

There are so many lesser told stories from the Second World War and, while I'm nowhere near as knowledgable as some, the Canadian perspective was one that I knew nothing about.

Based on true events, the film centres on a group of soldiers towards the end of the war, who work with the local resistance to liberate a Dutch village as the clock ticks down towards an allied attack, intended to drive out the Nazi occupiers.

Despite it indie roots, The Liberation Men achieves a lot with its budget. The film is really elevated by the production design, which feels absolutely spot on. The story is engaging, and the creative team are clearly passionate about telling this lesser explored perspective of WWII, all of which makes for an enjoyable 90 minutes.

I was a fool! I checked out the Director thinking his involvement with 'Designated Survivor' would mean a definite bit of entertainment on a lazy afternoon! How wrong was I? This is your typical low budget war movie which only those who were involved in its production would sit down and watch. My clue came in the first few minutes when - spoiler alert- a troop carrier with 2 soldiers in immaculate uniforms were 'blown up' by what sounded like a small fire work. Next a hospital scene with no hospital staff and very poor dialogue. I'm generally tolerant of low budget movies but my patience ran out after 10 minutes! There are a ton of good war movies out there, watch those instead.

The liberation men is a solid indie war flick that depvs into the backstory of the liberation of Holland. Good character development, low light shooting and story. The pace could be better, the lead at times seemed a little low energy although a solid effort there, throw in some more adventurous camera angles (the Dutch angle would be appropriate, Mr robot frame), and sometimes the sound was difficult to hear, but all minor things when you see the effort to detail and other things put into this movie. It takes an army and deep pockets to make the kind of movies we are used to seeing in the box office, which makes this one worthy of look just to see what can be done on a 'budget'.

The Liberation Men is a good movie with a lot of drama and suspense in it. It is a period movie that is worth seeing. It takes place in an historical wartime period. However, what is most surprising is that it is not a historical romantic movie without compromising it's creativity and originality. The movie got stronger as the movie went along, pulling you in. The women in the film are important characters but it is the men who are the central to the film's story. Films transporting audiences back through time have captivated movie audiences over the years and this film is no exception. Bravo!

As WWII is winding down, the film's story relates the role Canadian soldiers played trying to liberate a Dutch town from the Nazis. Financing Indie film is difficult at best without big studio involvement. What they've accomplished with the vintage look...period costumes, the sets, the vehicles and equipment (guns, radio transmission, etc.) is truly heroic. A plus was the use of actual German and Dutch languages with sub-titles for the non-English speakers which is more authentic than everyone speaking English. I'd be interested in finding out more about the film, how and where it was made and the casting of the multi-linguistic actors.