Passchendaele

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General G
I searched and found nothing, then also went through a couple pages of threads and found nothing, if there is already one, I apologise and close it at will.

Anyways, this is a pretty new film roughly (Yes I said roughly) based on the battle of Passchendaele in World War 1, a Canadian battle no less. It is the highest budgeted film for a Canadian history movie and was filmed in Canada on an Aboriginal's landsite, with their permission of course.

Now, I say it was lightly based upon this battle because compared to the rest of the actual movies length...the battle itself and the time spent in that area in particular is actually pretty short. Mind you, the battle scenes were very well done and the director recreated the battle area with very close resemblance, using photos from the time. They actually took one of the photos from it, showing it then showed us the openning scene to when they are actually at Passchendaele and the resemblance really was remarkable.

All in all though, this was a love story, that was to be expected though, its World War I, it was a romantic time period. But it showed also when at the home front how people were pressured to join in on the war and why so many young men joined, as well it showed well how peoples of different nationalities were treated (Germans). This film is credited for historical accuracy.

Some facts on the battle?

France couldn't take Passchendaele...Britain couldn't take it...Who do they send in? The Canadians. We take it in a week. However, about a year later, Passchendaele is yet again lost, I don't know for sure if it was us on the defence or not though. But it was lost in less then a week erm The Germans had a name for the Canadians, especially after Vimy Ridge, and this was mentioned in the movie, they called us the Stormtroopers. And when the Canadians were called to the front line, the Germans were told to expect the worst.

Makes me pretty proud to be a Canadian smile

I would highly recommend this movie, just don't go in expecting high action war movie, go see Saving Private Ryan for that stick out tongue But really, it was well done. It's worth a watch and I will be buying it when it comes out. Probably I would give it 8-8.5/10.

MildPossession
It sounds like a type of cheese.

I will check it out. Is this the Paul Gross who was the lead in the show Due South, aww remember him in this.

jaden101
I'll definitely give it a watch...i have items handed down to me via my great grandfather, grandfather and father that are items from Passchendaele...a ration tin with almost all of the items intact...a few other items

http://file038a.bebo.com/10/large/2007/10/23/22/10993639a5908324114l.jpg

that's him

General G
Awe really?! That's very cool, he seems so young in that picture, its pretty sad to think of how young they were sent over at erm I could only wish I had relatives that fought in any of the great wars of the past, I have quite the passion for them, I would listen to every story they were willing to tell me and keep every keepsake they handed down to me.

jaden101
yeah...that one also has a story on it...it says

"To Annie...we have just had word from Willis(?) that peter went to the front 3 weeks ago and very sorry to inform you that he has been wounded in the side and thigh and is in hospital in france. this is his photo sent for you"

don't know what happened to him after that thought...presumably he was shipped back home...i don't even know how bad his injuries were...strange to think that it was only 3 generations before mine though...and that i had grandparents that fought in WW2...which i also have lots of photos from...

General G
Ah man that's so eerie and on the same side amazing to hear those stories...your hearing their thoughts and personal side to what they were doing. I could read those all day.

I would say he was probably sent home, but as you said, it would depend on just how bad his injuries were, or at least how bad the army thought they were. And yeah thats so crazy, when you look at it in that perspective...just 3 generations, it seems so little time away.

You should be proud of your great grandparents and grandparents for fighting in those two wars, and you should definately keep those photos, one of a kind.

My great uncle actually fought in not one of the great wars, but it was either Vietnam or in Korea, and he handed his helmet down to his children, who were quite young and ended up painting it totally white, well, now I ended up receiving that helmet, and I have been working on taking all the paint off, it looks ridiculous with it on.

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