Starring Paul Gross, Caroline Dhavernas. Written and directed by Paul Gross. (14A) 113 min. Opens Oct 17.
Gotta give the man respect for trying. Paul Gross’ ambitious campaign to create a bona-fide romantic war epic for his homeland is not just noble but downright exciting for those of us who long for anglophone Canadians to pay more attention to their own movies. The industry was also overdue for a production that so avidly sought to develop new sources of financing, thereby allowing Gross to work with the biggest possible canvas.
How he chose to fill that frame is where Passchendale disappoints. Since the movie is stuffed with so much hokey melodrama, homily-ridden dialogue and glossy, tourism-ad shots of Albertan scenery, there’s not enough room to provide a fuller sense of the experience or significance of Canadian soldiers’ efforts at the titular WWI battle.
Gross plays Michael Dunne, a shell-shocked soldier who recovers in Calgary before shipping out again to protect the brother of the nurse he loves (Caroline Dhavernas). Due to the broad-strokes narrative and abundance of one-note characters, the scenes on the home front can be a slog but at least the foothills look pretty. The long-in-coming battle sequences are harrowing and convincing but they too are stymied by an ill-judged romantic scene (lighting lovers with mortar fire is a bit much), easy plot contrivances and a last-minute stab at casting the whole tale as a religious allegory.
In his effort to make a few characters represent a vast array of experiences for Canadians of the era, Gross burdens them with more than they can plausibly bear. And for all its grandeur and ambition, Passchendaele fails to attain the shape and scope its subject deserves.