Waterloo (1970)

Waterloo: Directed by Sergey Bondarchuk. With Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins. Facing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.

“I only discovered Waterloo a couple of years ago and that was after buying the DVD for £4 in Asda! What a bargain buy it turned out to be, a true classic in every sense of the word.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe two main protagonists Napoleon and Wellington are portrayed superbly by Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer respectively, as we get a really detailed insight into both menu0026#39;s characters. These 2 generals had a special rivalry in 19th century military history and the way real quotes are dropped in at certain points during the movie is top class. Napoleon was the man to beat in 1815 and Wellington had his eyes very much set on that prize, this is well exemplified just before the battle commences when a soldier asks Wellington to fire a cannon shot when Napoleon rides into range, to which Wellington replies somewhat aghast u0026quot;Certainly not, commanders of armies have something better to do than to fire at one anotheru0026quot;. Wellington knew this would be the battle that would make or break him, and he wanted Napoleon there operating at his best.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother quote from the movie which embodies the respect and honour associated with this period of military history; Wellington is observing the French preparations for the commencement of battle, watching over the pomp and ritual somewhat contemptuously but also in admiration, u0026quot;Dramatic fellows, these French, music and banners, quite beautiful.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs far as I am aware the historical attention to detail is second to none with all the main areas included such as the lead-up to the battle at Ligny and Quatre Bras. Furthermore the battle appears to go exactly how historians would have wanted with plenty of emphasis put on every area of the battlefield. Sometimes in Britain and among Anglo-Saxons the battle is simply described as the Brits beating the French, however the movie sticks to historical facts and shows it was very much an Allied army that won at Waterloo with only something like 20%-30% of it comprising of British soldiers. The rest of the Allied force was made up of Prussians, Hessians, Hanoverians, Dutch, Belgians, Danes. This was very much a broad European coalition.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother great thing about this film is that even though Bonaparte was essentially the u0026#39;tyrantu0026#39; we get such an insight into his character and into Bonaparte u0026#39;the manu0026#39; that you feel sorry that he loses the battle in the end up.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe battle scenes are truly lavish, a real epic of a film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTop top drawer.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor me its a 10 out of 10 !”