warfilmman
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Registered: 02-2005
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Dieppe
Dieppe - 1999
A film or miniseries about the tragic raid on this French port on August 19th 1942 has been long overdue and this historically based Canadian miniseries is an interesting attempt. Though it excellently tells of the clash in personalities and motives of the various leaders and generals, and also does a fair job at showing the type of men in one of the Infantry Platoons, its in the mid area that the film is lacking.
With a good eye for period detail, its all the meetings and discussions amongst Churchill, Monty, Crerar and MacNaughton that impress the most, with the two central characters of Mountbatten (Victor Garber) and Halley (Robert Joy) providing the inhumane planners, and Gary Reineke as Hamilton Roberts providing the soul, As for the other ranks, though an un-necessary romance is tagged onto the plot, the various characters get across the initial frustration at being left on the sidelines and then the fear of taking part in one of the most ill-conceived operations of WWII effectively.
The big thing missing is in the scale of the battle sequences, clearly the film is low-budget and its so often clear that there is just one LCM full of actors and extras, bolstered by some rather naff multiple LCM shots on the sea. I don’t think it really gets across the scale of Dieppe, of 5000 men landing. Though I can’t believe I’m saying this, as its an often over-used technique in war movies - maybe some 1942 newsreel footage of the fleet from the air would have added to the sense of scale. No aircraft or tanks are seen for example, and the beach set is tiny.
Another criticism is of the outfitting of the cast, particularly the webbing, which has not been adjusted for the men wearing it, though the BD itself is pretty good.
I think this has to go in the “close but no cigar category”. Though as it’s the only film about Dieppe it has to win points for tackling a subject that needs to be heard about more often.
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2/12/2005, 2:59 am
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