Passchendaele Movie Analysis

Passchendaele takes place 3 years into World War 1, the Great War. Sgt. Michael Dunne is sent back to Calgary, Alberta after being diagnosed with neurasthenia due to the trauma he suffered during a fierce battle in the war. He meets Sarah Mann the nurse who is helping him recover. In the meantime, David Mann, Sarah’s brother, is desperately trying to get Cassie Walker’s father to accept his relationship with his daughter. Dr. Walker, in an attempt to get rid of David forever, gives him a certificate to volunteer for the war, despite his asthma. David and Sarah’s home gets vandalized by German-haters, after they find out that Sarah Dunne’s father, who died at Vimy Ridge, was fighting for Germany. Finding out that David joined the army, Michael

They, a part of the reserve corps, are called up after both companies face some difficulty, and Michael’s platoon defends their territory. David is crucified when he chases the Germans to their trenches when they retreat, and Michael runs over to try to keep his promises of bringing David back alive. He is injured but succeeds. He later dies, but David survives but has to get his leg amputated, thousands die, but in the end, no ground was gained.

The movie Passchendaele has been historically accurate about the themes of war. It has shown that those in command are willing to do anything to get young men to become a part of the war, which included public shaming, like we had seen during Sgt. Michael’s award ceremony, and lying and taking advantage of the more innocent teens, like David Mann, who was gotten rid of by Dr. Walker. What was also accurately shown was the extreme racism and persecution of those who were of different colour or race .Sarah Mann, who had stayed in Canada all her life, had her home vandalized with the word “Hun” painted on the walls. She might’ve even been assaulted by the group of men outside of her door

Although hundreds of thousands of people die, nothing has been achieved. What was won was lost, or will be lost again. Nothing is permanent, and life is always changing, always evolving. The end of war doesn’t mean the end of one’s ideals. War likely fuels things even more, and leads to other conflicts, which would lead to war, and it would continue in a cycle forever. War is futile, and I believe they aren’t worth fighting. Things could be resolved much more easily if people just debated politically or if they were just simply more