Waterloo (1970)

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Movie
German title Waterloo
Original title Waterloo
Country of production Italy , Soviet Union
original language English
Publishing year 1970
length 134 (German version 119) minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Sergei Bondarchuk
script HAL Craig
Sergei Bondarchuk
Vittorio Bonicelli
production Dino De Laurentiis
music Nino Rota
camera Armando Nannuzzi
cut Richard C. Meyer
occupation

Waterloo is an Italian - Soviet period film by the Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk from 1970 about the Battle of Waterloo .

action

The film plot mainly depicts the end of Napoleon's so-called hundred-day rule in 1815 after he fled the island of Elba .

The first third of the film deals with the circumstances that ultimately led to the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon lands in France and marches at the head of his followers from the south to Paris . The reigning King Louis XVIII. Marshal Ney orders the former regent to be stopped and arrested. A remarkable scene depicts the charisma of Napoleon with which he impressed the soldiers who stood up for his arrest. The commander of that force, Marshal Ney, then submits to the new ruler. Then you see an extremely shameful departure of the King of France, Louis the Eighteenth, who gets into a carriage and lets himself be driven away.

The second third of the film portrays the social and political side that Napoleon encounters in Paris and which he dominates again within a very short time. The subservience of the military commanders, who until then had actually been sworn to the abdicated ruler, is characteristic. The nimbus of Napoleon among the people, who evidently revered him as a national hero, is just as detailed . In a very short time, the old and new "Kaiser" can again gather enough faithful to fight against the military resistance of the European allies, led by the British General Wellington and the Prussian Marshal Blücher . He is also successful and can force the opposing armies to flee again and again. Although the film is mainly dominated by military themes, in some scenes private things of the "little Corsican" are highlighted, such as his relationship with his ex-wife and son.

In the last third of the film, the battle finally takes place, the outcome of which shaped the political face of Europe for an entire century. While Napoleon believes that he is the sure victor because he was able to force the Prussians to flee shortly beforehand and thus separate them from the allied armed forces of the British, it becomes obvious that a decision about victory or defeat to a large extent also depends on the functioning of communication depends. At first, the French army was able to push the British back and force them into a bloody defensive battle, but then the weather at night thwarted the tactician's calculations: It was raining cats and dogs, so the start of the attack was delayed the next morning. This in turn gives the Prussian army the time to regroup behind Napoleon's forces and to intervene in the battle. After the French cavalry undertook an uncoordinated attack in which they suffered heavy losses, the tide finally turned against Napoleon. Although he is still throwing his " old guard " into battle, his army is being wiped out between the Prussians, who keep attacking, and the defensive British troops.

In the evenings the defeat is sealed by the disorderly withdrawal of the French troops. The Prussians pursued the retreating French into the evening and through the night. Retreating from battle becomes a desperate escape. Back on the battlefield, it is not only Napoleon's legendary bicorn hat that remains, but also the synonym for a phrase that still allows many to experience “his Waterloo” today.

production

Columbia Pictures published a 28-page, color-illustrated program booklet for the film premiere . According to this booklet, Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis struggled to find financial support for this massive film project until he contacted Russia in the late 1960s and reached an agreement with the Mosfilm organization . The final cost was about £ 12 million (equivalent to 38.3 million US dollars in 1970). In its day, Waterloo was one of the most expensive films ever made. Had the film been shot in the western world , the cost would have been three times as much. Mosfilm paid more than £ 4 million of the cost, provided nearly 16,000 soldiers from the Soviet Army and a full brigade of Soviet cavalry as extras, as well as engineers and workers to prepare the farmland at Uzhhorod in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union ) as a battlefield.

To make the battlefield authentic, two mounds were cleared with bulldozers , five miles of roads were built, 5,000 trees were transplanted, fields of rye, barley and sunflowers were created, and historical buildings were recreated. To create the much mud on the battlefield, 6 miles of underground irrigation systems were laid. Most of the battle scenes were filmed simultaneously with 5 Panavision cameras, at eye level, from 30 m high towers, from a helicopter and from camera cars moving on rails slightly above the battlefield .

Nevertheless, there is a mistake: A close-up of the cavalry shows dust blowing up - which contradicts the historical weather and statements of the film plot in equal measure.

Filming in Ukraine was completed after more than 28 weeks, which included 16 days lost due to bad weather. Many of the battle scenes were filmed in the summer of 1969 in stifling heat. In addition to the battlefield in Ukraine, other exterior shots were filmed in Caserta , Italy. The interior shots were taken in the De Laurentiis Studios in Rome .

A few months before filming began, the 16,000 Soviet soldiers began their training to learn drill and battle formations from the period of 1815 as well as the handling of sabers , bayonets and cannons of the time . An additional selected 2,000 men were trained in loading and firing muskets .

This army lived in a large camp next to the battlefield. Every day after breakfast the men marched to a large locker room, put on their French, British, or Prussian uniforms, and were in position five minutes later. The soldiers were commanded by officers who received their instructions from director Sergei Bondarchuk via walkie-talkie . To support the direction in this huge multi-national company, the Russian-speaking director always had four translators at his side: one each for English, Italian, French and Serbo-Croatian.

Awards

Reviews

  • "Elaborate monumental spectacle (...) that anecdotally disguises the dynamics of mass killing as fate and depicts the execution of strategies as a mental battle of superior intelligences; Plummer convinces as Wellington, Steiger has moments of involuntary comedy in scenes as Napoleon, who occasionally rolls his eyes and grimaces; the authentic reconstruction and its visual implementation (...). " (Rating: 2½ stars = above average) - Adolf Heinzlmeier and Berndt Schulz in the lexicon "Films on TV" (extended new edition). Rasch and Röhring, Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-89136-392-3 , p. 904.
  • "Technically complex historical film (...). In addition to the realistic staging of the battle scenes, there are also some acting performances, but the statement of the futility of the war takes a back seat in favor of the show values." - " Lexicon of International Films "
  • "This film [...] concentrates entirely on the battle of Waterloo, but does not convey the tension of that day and the strategic circumstances convincingly. Historical backgrounds are hardly given, Napoleon's psychology is neglected. What remains is a considerable war decoration." - Protestant film observer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Waterloo. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 480/1970