"Battle for Monte Cassino told in new film by John Irvin" Topic

"A film about the battle for Monte Cassino – one of the most bitterly-fought land campaigns of World War II – is being made to coincide with the battle's 70th anniversary.

Its British director John Irvin told the BBC he didn't want to make a film that was "merely a bloodbath".

"It's a moving story of tenderness, love and hope with a sense of salvation within it," he said.

Irvin's previous films include Hamburger Hill and The Dogs of War.

Over several months in 1944, Monte Cassino was the focal point of a series of German defensive positions stretching across the Italian peninsula that prevented the Allied advance to Rome.

During the harshest Italian winter on record, the mountainous terrain around the world-famous abbey provided the ideal protection for the German Army.

The abbey was destroyed by aerial bombing in February 1944, but not before the German troops had rescued its treasures from destruction.

With nearly 200,000 soldiers participating from over 30 different countries, there were heavy losses on both sides. Some 55,000 Allied and 20,000 German soldiers were injured or killed.

Irvin said his fascination with Monte Cassino dated back to his school days, when he had been taught by a history master whose brother had died there.

"It's not a battle that the Allies can be very proud of," Irvin said. "The casualties were jaw-dropping, a third of which were inflicted by friendly fire."

He added: "The aspect of the battle that has haunted me was the decision to carpet bomb the abbey, one of the great architectural jewels of western culture, which was reduced to rubble in six hours."

The adviser on the film is Dr Peter Caddick-Adams, a professional military historian and author of the recently-published Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell.

The film tells the true story of two survivors of the battle, a wounded American soldier and the Italian nurse who cared for him.

With casting underway, Irvin hopes to shoot Monte Cassino in Poland next year, and said the destruction of the abbey would involve a "significant amount of CGI".

The producers are Steffen Wild of Fourth Culture Films and Davina Belling of Film and General Productions

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Interesting ideas for more wargames of M.Cassino battle with this film?

I can wait to see it!
And you?

Amicalement
Armand

I think I can probably wait to see it as well.

He also made the Hurtgen Forest movie 'When Trumpets Fade'

Have that DVD & hope to get round to watching it soon. I thought HAMBURGER HILL was OK

Well it can't be as bad as 'Pearl Harbour'…. Can it?… A truly awful film in every way.

"The film tells the true story of two survivors of the battle, a wounded American soldier and the Italian nurse who cared for him."

I've seen this film a dozen times. It's the plot of every war movie that tries to introduce a love interest.

I think it would be better as a straight story of the fighting without any romance. But it's their money – they can make it how they like. I will watch it when it comes on TV but I'm unlikely to be able to buy it on (proper) DVD or see it in a cinema.

Sounds like that bloody awful film about the Red Baron, film makers like that deserve to live in poverty.

yeah but's an Italian male nurse… 'Brokeback Monte'.

A nurse and a wounded soldier? "The English Patient", anyone?

Or 'A Farewell to Arms'??

"The casualties were jaw-dropping, a third of which were inflicted by friendly fire."

I'd love to see some statistical backup for this assertion.

yeah but's an Italian male nurse… 'Brokeback Monte'.

Vorrei sapere come smettere di voi!

note: google translate probably got it wrong but you get what I'm saying!

Or the diabolical PASSCHENDAELE…

"I'd love to see some statistical backup for this assertion."

That's only applicable to internet discussions, reality only stifles artisic endeavours! There were some glum predictions on the likely outcome over on WW2talk, and i won't pretend to hold out any hope myself. There is a difference in making a film about a WW2 battle, and making a film that is set during a WW2 battle, and I think this one will be the latter. Shame if it does turn out to be a dud, as it will suddenly become the only account of the battle that a lot of people will have heard.

Gary

You would think with the success of SPR and BoB someone would do a war movie that focused on the soldiers and getting through those events…

Damon.

I don't have any problems with films using WW2 as a backdrop for other stories, but when starting from the premise that that third of alied losses were down to friendly fire, it doesn't look very promising.

We haven't even managed that level of blue on blue in more recent conflicts when weapon lethality is much higher.

"You would think with the success of SPR and BoB someone would do a war movie that focused on the soldiers and getting through those events…"

Umm, been there and done that. The era of 'proper' WW2 war films ended with A Bridge Too Far, modern cinema audiences just aren't interested in WW2 battle accounts as films. SPR might be viewed as a modern abberation, similar to modern attempts to revise the Western as a genre. Even SPR is primarily a human interest story, as are things like Stalingrad and Das Boot.