Kirk Ross

The capture/liberation of Walcheren Island during Operation INFATUATE - 1-8 November 1944 - was carried out as a combined operation involving several Royal Marine Commandos, elements of the 52 Division, and 2 Canadian Infantry Division (which made a forces assault of the causeway), and resulted, eventually, in the opening of the Scheldt to Allied shipping. Had the writer(s), director, producer, etc., attempted to tell the story of this operation, they could certainly have done so, and they could have, in doing so, presented the story from the several perspectives of the Allied and German combatants and the Dutch civilian population. What they did, instead, was to toss up some sort of convoluted mess of history featuring a disenchanted Dutch Nazi lately of the Russian front who develops a conscience only after realizing his Superman costume isn't working for him and his pals, a smart aleck in sergeant's stripes who crash lands into the adventure of a lifetime and spends nearly two months wondering around in search of dry feet, and reluctant resistance heroine willing to die to carry to the Allies information that even the rudest intellect among them could have divined from a casual glance at the map. If the film's leaders had started with a better script, they may have been able to do something despite their small budget. Historical fiction should occupy the shadows of history, not re-write history to compensate for a bad screenplay.