This past weekend, I took in another decent, European-made Netflix original. The film is called The Forgotten Battle… or at least, that’s what Netflix says it is called. It is a story taking place, mostly, in The Netherlands and, in its original Dutch, the title is De Slag om de Schelde or “The Battle of the Scheldt.”
The implication hidden within that American title, along with some of the film’s early sequences, is that the Battle of the Scheldt was overshadowed in the public’s awareness by the near-simultaneous Operation Market Garden. Perhaps we in American did “forget” that while Montgomery was making his push to cross the Rhine, there were Canadian forces a little further north west (ed. see discussion in comments about my geographical challenges) making sure that the sea access to Antwerp was traversable as a supply route. I must admit that I was not aware of the details of this battle and its timing*. But being now aware of it I don’t think I’ll be “forgetting” that it happened. I guess its more of an implication that someone “forgot” to tell us about it rather than that we knew about it but then forgot.
Enter a consortium of Nationally-funded film efforts, including the a-bit-too-honestly-named Belgische Taxshelter voor Filmfinanciering, which created this good looking and enjoyable war movie. In some ways, the “niche” production and focused audience suggests I judge De Slag with a kinder eye but, by some measures, its quality does challenge any top-tier historical/war movie of the day.
I was probably influenced by just such a suggestion which surfaced in one of the Netflix blurbs, but I see De Slag om de Schelde‘s debt to the likes of Dunkirk and 1917, particularly in the camera work and cinematography. De Slag uses tight camera angles and selective focus to create suspense, a technique that may seem familiar but still remains impressive.
As to the story itself, it doesn’t have the history-making impact of a Dunkirk or a Saving Private Ryan nor is it as dramatically coherent as a 1917. Like the latter, it uses, for the most part, the personal stories of a handful of characters to tell us something about the historical victory that freed the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. While the film is about “The Battle of the Scheldt,” the actual battling portrayed is reduced from that more-than-a-month-long engagement to the three day “Battle of Walcheren Causeway*.” Furthermore, most of the screen time is focused on three characters.
From this I deduce that the personal stories meant to be allegorical.
Although she doesn’t get top billing, I would say the “star” of this film is Dutch actress Susan Radder who plays Teun** Visser. This character is the teenaged (***?) daughter of a Dutch doctor. Caught by the German occupation, Dad has provided his medical services to wounded and sick soldiers of the occupation. Does that make him a collaborator? Does that make her one?
As an aside, through the duration of my viewing I was sure that Radder looked familiar to me. I am nonetheless quite sure I’ve never seen her in another film. She has a couple of dozen movies and TV shows to her credit but all of them are in her native language. Mulling it over, I think she has a passing resemblance to Chloë Grace Moretz and that triggered some confusion in my mind.
The actual top-billed actor is Gijs Blom playing Marinus van Staveren. The character of Staveren, by contrast, really is a Nazi sympathizer. Frustrated with the cultural values of his parent’s generation, he is drawn to the socialism of the “enemy.” He joins with the German army and, as happened to Westerners finding themselves in the Wermacht, is sent to the Eastern front to fight the Russians. A serendipitous encounter after a war wound gets him taken off the front lines and reassigned to his own country just in time for the film title’s battle.
Set these two against a third character, Teun’s brother, whom we meet as he is celebrating the retreat of the occupying army from their town. He represents those Dutch citizens who joined the underground and resisted the invaders.
This, perhaps, is the real “story” of the film, as opposed to the taking of the causeway – dramatic as that may be. It is the story of how there was no single, national experience of the occupation but rather a multitude of individual experiences.
The #3 billed actor is Jamie Flatters. At the time De Slag om de Schelde was made, he was known only for lesser roles on some BBC TV series. He has since received more attention after playing a computer-enhanced alien in Avatar. His prominence, in the film and on the poster, messes somewhat with my simple Dutch trio, as described above. Flatters plays William Sinclair, a paratrooper and glider pilot who is also the son of a British General. He fibs his way into the Market Garden assault only to be downed over the Holland coast and thus sucked up into the assault on the Walcheren Causeway. I can only surmise that this is to emphasize the “forgotten” aspect of The Forgotten Battle, from the perspective the British who were focused a bit farther to the east and maybe are here accused of “forgetting.”
I must also give an honorable mention to Lithuania.
I noticed in the initial credits that, among the many sources of State funding for the film, listed among them was Lithuania. I found that odd for a story taking place in a very different part of Northern Europe. As the film commenced, I made note of a scene that took place in the Baltics. The battle in which Marinus van Staveren is injured is that at Narva, in Estonia. It was surprised that the producers would be that intent on authenticity, filming a brief Eastern Front sequence in the Baltics… but so be it.
Further consideration and my enjoyment of the final credit roll revealed that Lithuania had a bigger part is this film than just that. Apparently, that nation was used to provide some more period-appropriate architecture inserted into the story as Holland’s landscape. Not all of it though. Much of the filming took place at the actual locations depicted.
Our world may be awash with war movies but genuinely-decent ones are often hard to find. De Slag om de Schelde succeeds on multiple levels. It is a respectable entry into the combat/action genre of film as well as a well-crafted character drama exploring how individuals deal with war and occupation. On top of that, it really does offer a bit of insight into a part of the war in Europe about which most people, especially in America, have never learned.
*It’s not really simultaneous with Market Garden. The events in A Bridge Too Far were complete sometime in the days around or just after September 25th. The battle shown, the one assumed to be forgotten (The Battle of Walcheren Causeway – also Operation Vitality or Sloedam for the Dutch), took place over three days starting on October 31st. While the timing isn’t exactly wrong, the film shows it compressed in a way that isn’t exactly wrong but could mislead.
**Credits list the character as Teuntje but the subtitles show her called by a diminutive form of that Dutch name. Teuntje itself is a diminutive for Antonia or Antoinette when used for a girl. It also can be a boy’s name.
***For what its worth, Radder was 21 at the time the film was released. Should the character be 21? If she was meant to be, say, 16, they still probably would have used a 20-year-old actress.
et tu, Bluto? 
Well, Market-Garden was actually more like due east of Walcheren and the Westerschelde.
Also, if the Father of Teuntje (Antonia) was treating German soldiers voluntarily, he would indeed be seen as a collaborator by most of the Dutch. In 1942 the Germans ordered every MD to become part of the National-Socialist Artsenkamer, which was basically meant to stifle any protests, and make sure that all MD’s would follow all commands from the German authorities. This led to the overwhelming part of the MD’s refusing to practise medicine (at least officially), so they were not forced to become members of that Artsenkamer (Chamber of Medical Doctors). So this guy is, in 1944, still practising medicine, and also treating Germans? That is definitely collaboration for most Dutch.
Hm, and now I feel compelled to also see the film, being Dutch and all that.
Thank you for the geographical correction. I should have glanced at a map before I hit post.
I have this mental block that tells me England/Holland/Germany should form a line running north to south. Particularly in this case, but probably also in general, a line running west to east would be much more accurate. That I went all these years not knowing the Arnhem is actually NORTH of London, and both are north of Antwerp, is a little embarrassing.
Thanks for the additional insight into the doctor’s position. It informs my interpretation of what the film is trying to say about the occupation. I’ll not elaborate as it is probably necessary to give away the final scene to do so… but I will say the film only questioned, but never answered, how the doctor’s loyalty would be viewed post-liberation.
The film was free to me (I already paid my Netflix subscription), so it’s hard not to recommend watching. I’d think whatever else it gets right or wrong, it must be worth watching by virtue of its Dutch origins.
I’ll also add that I DO know that the picture which accompanies the post is way off to the north of all these discussed locations. I used it anyway because it was the only royalty-free shot of the coast that I found.
It’s from Makkum.
Pingback: Nobody Cares for Me | et tu, Bluto?