by Jake Bourgeois, Contributing Writer
The Forgotten Battle is Netflix’s latest international cinematic offering, and the title takes on an ironic tinge given how it’s being distributed. I don’t remember how I stumbled across the trailer for it, but it’s by no means one of the handful of projects the service is heavily promoted. Furthermore, even if you were to fire up the app and go searching for the film, you won’t find it listed at the top of their hub, in their lengthy list of “new releases,” or even in the line reserved for “Netflix originals.” I knew it was releasing October 15 and have a viewing history that would suggest it might be of interest to me, and even I had to eventually resort to just going to the search tool to load it.
But is the fact that it’s buried underneath the streaming giant’s mountain of content warranted?
As the synopsis describes, the film takes place, “During WWII’s crucial Battle of the Scheldt,” where, “the lives of a glider pilot, a Nazi soldier, and a reluctant Resistance recruit tragically intersect.” As our opening exposition by map explains, Allied forces are seeking a path from the UK to the liberated port in Antwerp, which requires the liberation of the land on the banks of the Scheldt River. Our British pilot (Jamie Flatters), Nazi soldier (Gijs Blom), and resistance recruit (Susan Radder) end up seeing their stories converge in the Dutch province of Zeeland.
World War II historical drama is perhaps one of my favorite subgenres, particularly when the story I’m told is one I did not have previous knowledge of. While “Operation Market Garden” is something that will ring a bell for those familiar with their World War II history, the film focusing on telling the story from what’s happening in a single Dutch province makes it feel unique. Likewise, the exploration of how people resisted the Nazi occupation, getting to see a Nazi soldier struggling to come to grips with the reality of what he’s been indoctrinated into, and the story of a soldier trying to survive behind enemy lines on their own are nothing new. However, finding a story to tell where all three narratives intersect compellingly is.
Director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (who also helmed the 2011 remake of The Thing) does a good job on a number of fronts here and deserves a good amount of credit for telling a successful story. For one, with trying to track a trio of different intertwining narrative threads, the film is tasked with successfully setting up the necessary background we need as an audience to both get invested in the characters as their stories intersect, while not losing our interest. That means bouncing between our three leads without losing our way. That set up takes about one quarter of the film, but in a way where I both understood how our characters end up where they do and (more importantly) I care enough to see where events take them.
Aside from handling the narrative gymnastics, I think the action is well shot and scenes are staged in a way that successfully creates a palpable sense of tension. The action scenes are clearly framed and creatively executed in a way that adds to the film, not one that distracts from it. Specifically, the scene in which we are introduced to our young Nazi stands out. Large-scale plane scenes can be tricky, but I wasn’t pulled out of the story at all during those sequences.
This is a film where the story is not told in English for the majority, and none of our three leads were actors that I had previous experience with. The only familiar face you’re likely to recognize is that of Tom Felton in the role of Flatters’ commanding officer. While I was not blown away by any of the performances, each actor plays their role capably, particularly given the emotional nature of the story.
I’m admittedly a sucker for these types of films, and The Forgotten Battle gave me exactly what I was hoping for when I fired it up: a well-made, compellingly told story focusing on a narrow aspect of a large-scale world event ripe for cinematic storytelling. As someone whose introduction to Netflix included an exploration of some really good international cinema surrounding World War II, it was nice to get a new Netflix original that harkens back to those.
It’s just a shame that Netflix doesn’t appear to be as interested in telling that story as I was in consuming it.
Grade: B
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