Passchendaele: Difference between revisions

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'''''Passcheandaele''''' (2008)'' is a [[Canada, Eh?|Canadian]] war film chronicling the events of the Battle of Passcheandaele during [[World War OneI]]. Written, produced and directed by ''[[Due South]]'' actor Paul Gross (who also stars in the lead role), the film follows a war veteran who heads back into the war to protect a young boy from harm.

Set during the height of the war, the film tells the story of Sergeant Michael Dunne (Gross), a Canadian soldier who is wounded during the Battle of Dieppe and is nursed back to health by a woman named Sarah. He is diagnosed as neurasthenic (what is now known as [[Shell -Shocked Veteran|post-traumatic stress disorder]]) and returns to his hometown of Calgary, Alberta to work as a war recruiter. Sarah's asthmatic brother, David, enlists in the war effort and demands that he is recognized by the father of his girlfriend, Cassie. Sarah believes that Michael is responsible for David's enlistment, and blames him for getting her brother involved in the army. To save David's life, Michael re-enlists with him (using a cover name), and they are sent to the frontline during the Battle of Passchendaele - one of the bloodiest military battles in Canadian history.

At a budget of $20 million dollars (CAD), it is the most expensive film ever made in Canada to date. ''Passcheandaele'' was [[Real Life Writes the Plot|inspired by the experiences of Gross' grandfather]], who fought in [[World War OneI]]. The film received mixed reviews when it premiered in Canada.

* [[Anti -Hero]]: Michael Dunne is somewhere between Type II and III. He became such because he's a thoroughly [[Shell -Shocked Veteran]].

* [[Battle in Thethe Rain]]: The final battle at Passchendaele.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Dunne comes down with post-traumatic stress disorder after stabbing a (possibly) unarmed teenage soldier in the head with a bayonet during the Battle of Dieppe.

* [[Shell -Shocked Veteran]]: Dunne and his fellow soldier Royster.

* [[War Is Hell]]: [[World War OneI]] is portrayed very unglamorously not only in scenes set at the frontline, but even in those that are set on the Canadian home front (which is the majority of the film, really). One of the major plot points is the propaganda-fueled xenophobia towards people with ethnic ancestry in the nations of the Central Powers, particularly Germany. David and Sarah Mann's father is suspected by the authorities to have been a German collaborator and they receive a lot of unfair ridicule and insults because of this. They're actually Canadian-born, so the accusations are really little more than paranoia-mongering [[Patriotic Fervour|to get the populace into a genuine anti-German mood]].