“Waterloo”
is a Soviet/Italian production released in 1970 and directed by Soviet Sergei
Bonderchuk. He used 15,000 Soviet
soldiers and 2,000 cavalrymen. 50 circus
riders were employed for the numerous horse falls. It was a big budget epic that did poorly at
the box office. The battlefield was
sculpted by bulldozing two hills, transplanting 5,000 trees, and reconstructing
four historic buildings.
The movie opens in April, 1814
at Fountainebleu Palace. Napoleon’s
council explains to him the dire situation of the allies closing in on
Paris. They all recommend that he
abdicate. Napoleon (Rod Steiger) has
mood swings from despair to optimism to rage to resignation. At one point he talks strategic nonsense in
front of some maps. The whole scene has
a "Downfall" vibe to it and someone should think of using it for a new You Tube
series. Napoleon finally sees reason and
says goodbye to his Old Guard in a speech that shows his charisma and why his soldiers
worshipped him.
The movie then jumps several
months to Napoleon’s return from exile.
King Louis XVII (Orson Welles looking like Humpty Dumpty) sends General
Ney (Dan O’Herlihy) to arrest Napoleon.
The encounter between Napoleon and his loyalists and Ney’s larger force
is suspenseful. Napoleon’s forceful
personality wins the day. The blimp
flees and Napoleon is back in power.
In Brussels, the British are
holding a dress ball attended by Wellington (Christopher Plummer) and his
officers. There is much pomp with period
costumes, dancing, and music. There is
romance in the air including a fictional one between the Duchess of Richmond’s
daughter and a dashing aide named Lord Hay.
Will her fiancé survive the battle?
Word arrives that Napoleon has stolen a march on the allies and has crossed
the border. Coincidentally, the doors
are thrown open by a sudden storm. Get
it?
The Battles of Quatre Bras and
Ligny are aftermathed. Standing amidst
the detritus of Ligny, Napoleon scolds Ney (who reports directly to him) for
not vigorously pursuing Wellington and then instructs Marshal Grouchy to tail
Blucher’s Prussians. The night before
the battle, it’s dueling councils as Napoleon and Wellington discuss
strategy. Wellington has an encounter
with a pig-stealing soldier (earlier he had described his enlisted men as
“scum, beggars, and scoundrels”) who he promotes for his cheekiness. A reference is made to Napoleon’s health
problem, but it is not specified what is ailing him. If it wasn’t based on fact, you would think
Bondarchuk was setting up an excuse for (spoiler alert!) Napoleon’s defeat.
The day breaks clear after a
very rainy night, but the mass of mud causes Napoleon to postpone his attack. The battle begins at 11:35 (the movie labels
key events) with artillery fire which sounds authentic, but the cannons have no
recoil which cancels the sound effects.
Napoleon launches a diversionary attack on the farm house Hougomont and
the action begins.
The action shifts to the center
and features a magnificent charge by the Scots Greys. Multiple cameras give every view
imaginable. There is slo-mo and moments
of silence other than the sound track.
Bondarchuk uses his full kit. One
of the principles, Lord Picton (Alex Hawkins), meets a quick death that
replicates his actual demise. The flaw
is the cavalry encounters no enemy until they reach the French artillery and
then they are counterattacked by French lancers. The movie is excellent in getting the
audience to arch its back in anticipation of being speared from behind. The leader of the Greys (Gen. Ponsonby) also
has an accurate death as his exhausted horse is ridden down in the mud.
The movie briefly updates us on
Grouchy as he stubbornly refuses to march to the sound of the guns and
continues to simply dog Blucher. These
little touches aid the audience in following the big picture, but it definitely
helps to have prior knowledge of the battle.
Napoleon collapses due to the stress of wondering where Blucher and
Grouchy are. While he recuperates, Ney
mistakes a rearward movement of the British center to take refuge from
cannonading as a general retreat and orders a massive cavalry charge.
What follows is one of the great
scenes in war movie history. The multiple cameras come into play again,
including aerial views. The British get
into squares and weather the storm of thundering hooves. There is a brief reappearance of the
pig-stealer, but the grunt that makes the most impression is one of his mates
who bizarrely leaves the ranks to rant about the inhumanity of the
killing. This heavy-handed sermonizing
mars the action. The pompous music also
detracts, but it is still an awesome rendering of one of the seminal moments in
cavalry history.
From Ney’s disastrous waste of
the cavalry (one is left to wonder why Napoleon forgave Ney for his Louis XVIII
flirtation), the movie alludes to the French capture of La Haye Sainte in the
center but foregoes the potential for some hard core infantry combat. (In fact, the movie is very cavalry-centric
which is odd considering the cavalry units mostly embarrassed themselves in the
battle.) The moment of decision has
arrived as Napoleon can see the Prussians approaching on his right flank. He orders the Old Guard forward to break the
spine of the British Army.
The French march ominously
forward, but the British are prone on the reverse slope. Upon orders from Wellington, they rise and
deliver volleys which break the Old Guard and send it reeling. “The Old Guard is broken!” Wellington is giddy (for him) and won’t let
the delimbing of Uxbridge faze him. “By
God, sir, I’ve lost my leg.” “By God, so
you have.” No better example of the
clicheish British stiff upper lip exists in movie history.
The chaos of a battle epilogue
is rendered and capped with the refusal of the Old Guard to surrender. Their “Nuts!” is “Merde!” (which means not “go
to Hell”, but “shit”). The cocky
response is met by massed cannon fire that is over in a blink. All that is left to be shown is the
ignominious carriage escape by Bonaparte, the civilian scavenging, and the
obligatory victorious general solemnly traversing the corpse-strewn
battlefield. “Next to a battle lost, the
saddest thing is a battle won.”
“Waterloo” is one of the most
accurate depictions of a major battle ever put on film. None of the major events are contemptuous of
history. However, there are some key
events and exposition that are left out.
For instance, the movie glosses over the mistake made by the French of
feeding more troops into the attack on Hougoumont in what was originally
conceived of as a diversion. The
handling of the charge of the Scot Greys is also shortchanged by eliminating
any contact with French infantry. The
pummeling of the British infantry by Napoleon’s batteries is not depicted well. In fact, the withdrawal that the movie Ney
mistakes for retreat actually occurred earlier in a response to French
artillery (Not enough is made in the
movie of Wellington’s famous “reverse slope” tactic). Ney’s faulty decision was most likely a
misreading of casualties withdrawing. The fight for La Haye Sainte is completely
skipped. Much of this was probably
logistical decisions, plus the desire to control the length of the film. What is less excusable is the handling of
Blucher’s arrival. The movie has him
arriving unimpeded on the French flank.
In reality, the Prussians had to fight their way to the position shown
in the movie. Not a big deal for a movie
that has built up good will up to this point.
The only ridiculous moment comes with the destruction of the Old Guard. They did fight to the last man, but were not
mown down by artillery in less than a minute.
There are a few sloppy mistakes
that bear mentioning. I did not see a
single reloading of a musket or cannon in the film. There is no use of the bayonet. I already mentioned the lack of cannon
recoil. However, once again, the little
details make up for these errors. These
details include French drummer boys, the British rum ration, the use of snuff,
and the bagpipers. The rain, smoke, and
mud show the attention to environmental details.
“Waterloo” is a worthy attempt
to recreate the most famous battle in history.
The scale is appropriately epic.
Bondarchuk literally had an army to work with and the non-CGI combat
benefits from this. In spite of the
quantity of soldiers, the movie is very much a command-oriented film. All of the main characters are not only higher
command, but also upper class. We have
to take Wellington’s famous word that his men were scum because we learn little
of them. The decision to concentrate on
command can be debated, but the movie is strong in getting in the minds of
Napoleon and Wellington. Bondarchuk even
resorts to the device of giving us their thoughts. Thankfully he does not abuse this conceit and
it is effective. The movie is more interested
in strategy than tactics and it does a good job of the big and medium
picture. I already knew a lot about the
battle, but I think an average viewer could learn the basics from this film.
One flaw is the acting. Steiger and Plummer dominate which is not
surprising given the weak supporting cast.
The appearance of Welles is a Brando in “Superman” stunt. Steiger chews the scenery, but so did
Napoleon so I think the criticism of his performance has been too harsh. I actually was less enamored with Plummer’s
take on Wellington. My reading has not
given me the impression that the Iron Duke was the witty, bon mot fellow of
this movie. I don’t think he smiled as
much as Plummer does. It doesn’t help
the actors that some of the dialogue is a bit pompous, but many of the lines
are direct quotes.
The cinematography is
eye-opening at times. There is a wide
variety of views. Early scenes have
plenty of close-ups, especially of the eyes.
The battle is noted for multiple angles from the five Panavision
cameras. The two cavalry charges stand
out. The sound effects are well done,
but the sound track is bothersome. The
movie has long stretches of no music, so when the standard epic war movie score
kicks in it is jarring.
Cracker? Definitely.
It is one of the best 100 war movies ever made. However, those who argue
it is the best movie of its type are forgetting about "Gettysburg". It’s not bad to come in second to that
movie. If you want to understand the
Battle of Waterloo, you can do no better than this movie.
Grade = A-
