Peter Houghton

Propaganda - The issue in this series is presented as drastically common - knife crime by white, middle class, 13 year old boys from comfortable and loving famiies is almost non existent - just read the crime stats, fully available. They've chosen a soft target because the realities are thorny and they didn't have the guts to tackle them. So... just a bit of whitey flaggelation instead. The case that this story was based on was, in reality, a young black male about 17 years old who stabbed a young black female on a bus in front of many other people. The male had countless red flags against his name for violence and mental health issues. The real issue is that he was on the bus. The criminal justice system failed the girl, and the mental health system failed the perpetrator. It was not 'social media' (ooooooh). It was the state. And guess who's promoting 'adolescence' using your taxpayer dollars.... the state. But hey... Steven Graeme's good isn't he.

The action sequences were excellent, especially the Canadian attempt to cross the causeway by direct assault. But i think the modern attempt to be democratic and create a sympathetic Nazi left little time to show the truth of the 'forgotten battle' of the title, so unfortunately the operation itself will remain largely forgotten as a result. And it collapsed into familiar tropes - The small section of British Airborne troops had the snarky cockney, belligerent scot, spoilt kid trying to prove himself, cynical officer etc etc. They seemed like untrained modern kids, not the elite of British Airborne Forces in WW2. And where were the British commandos who actually led the assault on Walcheren? Anyway, it's a compelling film and the art direction is excellent. And Canadians will be well pleased to be finally represented in a film about the fight into Germany in 44/45.