Full of cheesy one liners...I wonder was this supposed to be a comedy? But even then it would have failed. Apparently Paul Gross was meticulous in his preparation for this venture, made in memory of his grandfather. But,it comes across as a self indulgent game of war the likes of which would be played out by 8year old school boys in the playground. The fact that he directed, wrote/took the lead role in this sad affair comes across as a kind of ego trip. He even wrote the forgettable second rate love theme song. Mr Gross either treated the movie as his baby,or nobody else in the industry wanted anything to do with it.The scene where Mr Gross's character heroically carries David back to the Canadian lines (all on his own)on some sort of wooden cross was I in fairness absolutely hilarious. The movie cost 20 mill Canadian dollars(shame on him).What a dreadful insult to brave Canadians who gave their lives in WW1. As a comedy 3/10 at best. Otherwise, sub-zero $1 DVD bargain bin trash.

There was great hoopla around "Passchendaele" in 2008, with the hope that it would bring in great audiences when released. However, the box office take in its native Canada was only average, and it faired worse in the international market - the only foreign market it played in theaters was with a (brief) British release, and in the United States the DVD label that picked it up was a small DVD company that specialized in releasing public domain movies.Seeing the movie, it's easy to see why not that many people were attracted to it. The first half of the movie is pretty awful. I know the intent of this first half was to illustrate war on the home front - which you don't often see in war movies - but it fails in its intentions. The dialogue is downright awful at times, the characters are very familiar, and it's REAL slow going. Even worse is that despite the expense put into the movie, the look and feel of the movie here is like one found with a cheapo drama broadcast on the CBC television network.The second half of the movie - moving to the Passchendaele battlefields - is a bit more successful than the first half. The battlefield and the battlefield fighting come across as gritty and authentic, and the movie finally has a theatrical feeling to it. However, the movie still suffers from bad dialogue, throwing in ridiculous symbolism as well. Worse of all, the struggle for Passchendaele doesn't last that long - all of a sudden, we're told Passchendaele has been taken. Huh?Had writer/director/actor Paul Gross had set the movie entirely on the battlefield AND had someone smart working with him to correct the shortcomings of his screenplay, we might have had something here. But as it is, the movie ends up being a big disappointment. What's worse is that this movie's mostly bad reception means that it will probably be a long, long time before some other Canadian tries to make a "big" movie that will attract a large domestic audience - if ever.

The DVD of this had been staring at me every time I ventured into my local HMV branch, vying for my '2 for £10' cash. It looked promising, until it was shown, just now on BBC1.Radio Times, rather shockingly awarded this Canadian WWI movie a cursory one star. Their renowned and respected critic David Parkinson had derided it - How - and what - could make it so utterly bad?On a surface level, it's not a bad looking film, so the deficiencies are more than skin deep and they seep up and slowly overwhelm its audience. The bland, uninspiring characters, who we just can't warm to or rally around, the boring romantic tangents that help waste up to an hour of its lengthy near two hour runtime.Those who might celebrate a war film that's not all about guns and blowing people up, still might find that the entire run seems set on half-speed. The Canadian mountainous landscapes help offset an air of grimy doom, that binds the whole project like constricting barbed wire on the Front. Many reviewers have carped on about the menial dialogue; we don't expect Shakespearian dialogue amongst frightened squaddies on battlefront, but a believable one would have helped.It was the religious symbolism in the final frames that really got David Parkinson's goat - played out totally for melodramatic effect. I'm not religious, so it did not offend me - I cannot begin to imagine the feelings that those that are, might have.In a way, I'm glad that I watched Passchendale and I did so for free and that I won't have to see it again. It's a name of a place that is steeped in History and as fewer WWI veterans remain with us, it's even more important that their memories - and that they fought so bravely for the freedom that we enjoy - and take for granted now, are kept alive. Unfortunately, this film doesn't do that, but fortunately, because it is pretty poor, few people will ever get to see it.

This movie affected me emotionally in a way that very few movies ever have. I believe that the battle scenes are very realistic based upon my research of the Great War, and more importantly input from my father and others who actually fought in it. I do not care to comment on the technical aspects or romantic interludes. I will leave that to the 'experts' of which there seems to be an abundance. I am encouraged that this movie acknowledges Canada's contribution to the allied cause in the Great War. I think that very few people realize the sacrifices that were made by Canadians in both of the World Wars. Lastly, if anyone ever thinks of making a movie to show the futility of war as a method of solving differences, then some of the battle scenes could be used as is.