Reviews of Overlord
Displaying all 3 reviews
Edna Sweetlove
25May11
I found the first 35 minutes very boring indeed, but after that it picked up a lot. The “plot” was predictable (young everyman called up, trained by idiots, reduced to a cipher and then sacrificed pointlessly on D-Day) and the actor playing the lead was ridiculously middle-class. However, some of the restored archive footage was amazing and the way the new sequences were shot with old 1930s lenses was very clever and the joins were almost seamless. Worth seeing for its technical skill.
- Currently 3.0/5 Stars.
Jimmy Cline
2Aug09
It takes a pretty tactful director to pull of a film about war that intertwines archival war footage with a fictional narrative. Resnais definitely accomplished this with Hiroshima Mon Amor. And usually this type of film concentrates an individual or two, and then expands its interest to the larger realm of the human condition that they are part of.
Overlord’s beginning is a bit clunky. I immediately started to wonder where he was going with all of the footage that he was using, which is amazing stuff really. Then the fictional narrative began to unfold, and I realized that it is through Beddow’s reflections and reactions that we see just how small we are in relation to such an enormously confusing spectacle. Brian Stirner provides an incredible emotional ballast to the film, even though his ambivalent and oftentimes brooding character never seems to reveal too much about himself. Then a rhythm begins to develop, and it proves to be an excellent reminder of how there are times in life where people are powerless to change something, they are merely a part of it, adding an aspect of humanity to an otherwise empty machine.
Oh, and Alcott’s cinematography is stunning as always. I particularly enjoyed the way that the dream sequences were shot.
- Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
futurestar
29Mar09
A singular narrative of one soldier’s story as he preps for the upcoming June 6, 1944 D-Day invasion British style in Overlord. From induction through basic training up to heading into Normandy on the landing craft we get inside looking out surrealism. Our protagonist Tom Beddows is an everyday Englishman who explores his dismal destiny as that hour draws ever near.
In 1975 Stuart Cooper directed a captivating vision using years of research, data/files, back catalogs, news reels, stock footage from all factions of war correspondents, a lithe script, troops, military equipment, and flying craft to splice, thread, forefront, and backdrop – all from the Imperial War Museum to add substance and sustenance to his story. A daunting task that ushers a unique look at war and it’s ramifications from all sides especially those leading to initial engagement. As the machinations of allied forces collect and gather on the southernmost British Isles we see how minor but essential the individual players become.
To flush out one common, innocent youthful man, one who was but a boy a few days before and drape this historically world changing event we have to awake from his dream and challenge a stark reality, a finality, an invocation, and eulogy of uncommon valor. Asking the hard questions, would we all be so brave or shame ourselves cowardly?
Beautifully shot in pristine black and white, then intricately woven with addition historical footage Overlord is unlike anything else. In the telling of one, we speak of and to us all. This is the battle won on the inside. The battle won before we ever start. Poetically, a memorable mark in the celluloid reels of cinema. Overlord is much more than a war film. It is the continuing journey in quest to answer those questions always just beyond.