Waterloo

There can be no denying that this is a great film to watch.

Pure historians may dispair at some inaccuracies, although in a previous review I notice that a reviewer has made a few mistakes of his own! Air burst shells were quite the norm in fact the RHA were firing over the heads of the British troops at Hugomont the shells exploding over the French, these balls were hollow in nature and fused, in addition to this (although not seen in the film) were the RHA's rockets, which although forbidden by Wellington, were also fired of lierally. A feature I like which is included but wrong are the cannons shown in infantry squares firing at the advancing French cavalry and the troops then closing rank again to fend of the attackers. At the time of making it was still widely believed this happened.

A fair chunk of the story derives from Victor Hugo's descriptions of the battle which in turn were wrong. Bottom line is that I was a much younger man when the movie first came out and it fostered a great interest in finding out more. I feel it is a timeless 'film of its time'. Naturally a re-make would be a wonderful thing in todays modern world but the original does convey some of the depth, noise and smoke of the day.

The problem most war movies have, especially if they depict one battle, is the addition of extraneous sub-plots. I suppose the film makers think a broader audience will appreciate a movie more if there's an ordinary fellow shoved in that we can follow, and a love interest . . . Perhaps this view is valid. "Waterloo" comes dangerously on the brink of that pitfall in an early scene, but quickly backs up and focuses on who we really need to know to understand the battle: Napoleon and Wellington. Christopher Plummer was born to play Wellington, and he underplays the part beautifully, so that you know what he's thinking by the flick of an eyebrow or the corner of his mouth. Steiger looks like the older Napoleon, and he tends to chew the scenery, but Napoleon flew into unrestrained rages.

The movie does an admirable job of doing what so many lesser war movies don't: it gives you a good idea of what's going on in the field. If you pay attention, you won't be at a loss for the strategy or tactics.

Furthermore, the way it was shot has kept it from aging. It doesn't look like a "spectacle" from the '50s or '60s -- and though it employs a few of the poor film-making choices of its time that late-sixties film makers thought were so cool but which turned out so confusing and easily dated -- it doesn't seem dated at all.

The script has a peculiarity that might well have destroyed it: the writers seem to have excavated every famous quote from Napoleon, Wellington, et al, and shoved them all into the dialogue; and, amazingly, it isn't a distraction.

The worst problem the film has as a whole is its tendency to try to duplicate famous paintings by Meissonier, Lady Butler, and others; sometimes this works, giving the color tones we have come to expect of the period from those very artworks. Occasionally, it's distracting.

There are a few very rough cuts that look pretty bad. But the movie originally was more than four hours long, and the American release suffers from somewhat poor editing and splicing. Surely it's time to bring a full (and wide-screen) release to home video?

However, if you like your historical war movies diluted with love stories and fictional characters, rather than having the real brains behind the battles at center stage, you'll probably be bored to tears by it. If you want as good a recreation of a famous battle as you can probably get, this movie's for you.

The miracle of modern CGI is wonderful to watch, but in any scene here, with however many thousands of real extras filmed from helicopter or plane, the local chaos of battle lends credibility to this film. The shot of the French Cavalry invading the field of British Squares is formidable, and the slow disappearance of the view behind clouds does indeed represent the fog of war. Gunpowder is a particularly dirty propellant and on the day itself I doubt much could be seen at all, but then shooting scenes composed mostly of gun smoke would not be terribly helpful or interesting.

I am slightly surprised by some IMDb commentators references to the true quotations appearing in the film attributed to the Duke of Wellington and others, and how they seem to "fit in". If the heroic character portrayed in the film actually said them, then they cannot be out of place! If you look up Wellington's quotations in any dictionary or internet site, his comment about nothing being worse than a battle lost than a battle won appears in several slight variations, in letters, quoted conversations etcetera.

Rather like Zulu, thank goodness this film was made when the focus was the battle and the generals, without endless diversions into moralising and personal stories. Waterloo was a battle between an alliance and a dictator, never mind the small print. This film deserves far greater credit than it was given. See it.

***Possible Spoliers***

Waterloo is a fantastic film, and is worthy of more praise than it receives. I am a big fan of this era of warfare, and Waterloo is one of the few films that actually does it justice. The action scenes are like nothing else I have seen before. The portrayal of all the characters, not just Wellington and Bonaparte, was excellent, considering the epic size of the movie.

Both Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington and Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte did fantastic jobs portraying their characters. Their performances were particularly excellent in the way that Steiger and Plummer acted their characters, in such differing ways, with Napoleon crying and saying ‘Goodbye My Sons' just before his abdication, whilst Wellington remarks to the Dutches of Richmond that his men are ‘scum of the earth'.

Both characters quirky humour is shown well with Wellington promoting the Irish private from the 27th regiment, better known as the Inniskilling, to corporal for being able to ‘defend a helpless situation' after Wellington caught him with a pig. Other characters such as General Sir Thomas Picton, Sir William Ponsonby and Lord Uxbridge were fantastic, but for mine the best co-starring role was that of Dan O'Herlihy as Marshall Michel Ney, the red-headed General who lost the Emperor his cavalry, just as Uxbridge lost Wellington his. O'Herlihy had great lines and portrayed Ney as a brave and courageous man.

As I eluded to earlier the battle scenes were fantastic, particularly the two cavalry charges, the best one being the French charge, led by the afore mentioned Marshall Ney. The shots of the French cavalry riding over the ridge to be faced with the British infantry in square are some of the best of the film. The charge of Britain's ‘heavies', the Life Guards, Inniskilling Horse and Scots Greys is the second best action sequence in the whole film.

The infantry sequences are reasonable also, but not as good as the cavalry sequences, and I am sure that the last volley, fired by the British Guards would have hit their own men, but anyway. The only quibble I have with the volley sequences are that the final scenes involving the Imperial Guard are different to what is portrayed in the books. History says that there were only a thin two deep line of redcoats, at the centre of the line, where Maitland's men were positioned, not three or four rows, but apart from that the battle scenes were excellent.

The only sad thing in the film, was the dubbed voice of Sir Thomas Picton, played by Jack Hawkins who had throat cancer at the time, and also the non-violent depiction of the battle scenes which did not accurately show the carnage and blood of the Battle of Waterloo.

Overall the film was fantastic, I would dearly love to track down the 5-hour directors cut which is rumoured to be around somewhere, and I must add that I was amazed that this film flopped at the box office. I thought cinema-goers would have lapped up this sort of epic action again and again, but obviously not.

The film version of Waterloo is almost totally historically accurate to the actual events of 1815; the events of that year make for a great story to tell, and it is translated extremely well to film. Even with some dramatization and poetic license thrown in we see what these men were really like and we get to understand what motivated Napoleon to take the course of action that he did. The costumes and sets are very well done, and you almost think you stepped out of a time machine when you see them. The film is a little longer than most, and being familiar with the actual events leading up to the battle helps to understand the film, so this movie may not appeal to everyone. Still, Waterloo is a great film, and while hard to find on video you should watch it if you ever get the chance.