Publisher: CinemaSerf March 28, 2022
I suppose that nowadays we would call this a docu-drama, depicting - as it does - the real life efforts of British soldiers to take and hold the bridge at Arnhem in Holland for their advancing colleagues. As we see clearly here, this was a meticulously planned operation using thousands of men and tonnes of materiel and once begun, the full horrors of war are there for us to behold. It doesn't pull it's punches and though largely devoid of gratuitous gore, it still illustrates well just how dangerous it was, and just how well equipped and dug in their Nazi foe was - equally determined never to yield. The result of the battle is history, so what makes this all the more apposite is the use of survivors and other soldiers to participate in what could not be called a success - 10,000 go in, 2,000 come out - but that's what makes their efforts all the more remarkable and the film shies not from showing us the tragedy of this operation as it may have unfolded in 1944. There's a scene midway through in their makeshift hospital when someone asks "Are they still operating?" to which the reply "No, the theatre roof has just fallen in" is offered. No walk in the park!