Charles Glenn – Google

This film is an extremely authentic portrayal of the battles in late 1944 to take Walcheren Island in order to secure the Scheldt Estuary for allied shipping. It is great to see a part of the WW2 campaign involving British and Canadian troops rather than the USA. It is a Dutch-Belgian production with all the characters, Dutch, German, British and Canadians speaking in their own languages which adds to the authentic feel. Like all recent war films set in Occupied Europe, there is no holding back from the depiction of the grim, frightening lives lived by the occupied. Battle scenes are gory and very well staged. In my opinion, "A Bridge Too Far" set the standard for depicting the airborne invasion but there are some amazing scenes of Horsa gliders being towed and under attack from flak as they fly in towards Arnhem. Yes, a lot of it is CGI but they must have built at least one mock up of the gliders for this movie. The plot focusses on a Dutch family, a British glider pilot and a Dutch volunteer in the German army. The latter is a brave choice as a great deal of sympathy is built up for this character, despite the odious cause for which he volunteered. I'm giving this 5 stars because the film makers obviously went to a great deal of trouble to depict WW2 as accurately as they could. The sets, including part of a flooded Dutch town are fantastic. The cinematography is beautiful in places.