The Forgotten Battle (2020) User Reviews

Shocking Surprise Of A WW2 Movie Especially For 2021.

[wandernn1-81-683274 · 8/10 · 15 October 2021]

Wow. I was very surprised by this movie. This is the best movie I have seen about WW2 in a very long time. It really might rank up there with some of the best war movies.

The odd thing is there are so many characters so they really had to crunch for time to develop the characters in the space of two hours. With the various battle sequences along the way.

I just finished watching it and I'm still a bit shocked at how it got to me. Very Good Movie. 8/10.

A well made Netflix war film

[eddie_baggins · 7/10 · 8 November 2021]

One of the most expensive Dutch films ever produced and streaming kingpin Netflix's first originally produced film from the Netherlands, The Forgotten Battle is the perfect type of film for the company to support as well as being one of the most well put together war films in their catalogue.

Directed by native Dutchman Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. (whose dabbled in Hollywood efforts like the The Thing), Battle tells the story of the not overly well-known World War 2 battle of Schelde in which allied forces took it to a bare-bones but determined Nazi army that was hellbent on stopping the allied march across Europe capturing ports and cities on their way into the Nazi occupied heartlands.

Splitting the film up into three separate stories that all combine into one cohesive narrative structure, Battle follows Gijs Blom's young Dutch German soldier Marinus who has been sent back to his home country to take part in the fight, Jamie Flatter's newbie British pilot William who has along with his squad been shot down over enemy lines and battling to get back to allied forces and Susan Radder's Walcheren Island native Teuntje who is trying her best to rescue her brother from the clutches of Nazi soldiers.

Offering a wide ranging scope by telling his story this way, Heijningen Jr's film isn't your typical war film that is all battles and brothers and while it has plenty of in your face battlefront carnage and cat and mouse games of life and death, the film provides a neatly observed different lens on the World War 2 front with it far removed from the more Hollywoodized war films that can find themselves front and centre in the genre on regular occasions.

Working with a budget that while significant is still merely catering for big time productions, Heijningen Jr wrings every last dollar out of his films coffers to ensure that Battle feels like a more prestigious than usual Netflix mid-tier release and while it may not offer the big emotional pay-offs or gravitas to make it a must-watch, Battle showcases to viewers and to Netflix as a company the exact type of films it should be investing in when its not throwing 100's of millions of dollars at releases like The Irishman, 6 Underground and the upcoming Red Notice.

Far from a classic World War 2 tale, battle is still high quality war time drama that offers a firsthand look at a largely unspoken about component of the Market Garden operation.

Final Say -

The Forgotten Battle is an above average Netflix release that has rightfully proved to be a decent sized hit for the streaming company and should be sought after by anyone seeking out a quality World War 2 offering (or a chance to see Draco Malfoy battle Nazis).

3 1/2 biscuit tins out of 5.

Powerful, complex war movie

[Red-125 · 8/10 · 29 October 2021]

De slag om de Schelde (2020) is a Dutch movie co-written and directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. It was shown in the U. S. with the title "The Forgotten Battle." The actual title translates as "The Battle of the Scheldt." We in the U. S. may never have heard of it. That's because Canadian troops bore the brunt of the battle against the Germans. I'm sure it's not a forgotten battle in Canada or Holland.

Gijs Blom portrays Marinus van Staveren, a Dutch citizen who is fighting on the side of the Germans. He hates Jews--and probably Communists--so he volunteered to fight in the German army. When the movie opens, he's fighting on the Russian front, but he gets transferred to Holland.

Jamie Flatters plays William Sinclair. He's a British glider pilot, but his glider is shot down and he lands in Holland.

Susan Radder plays Teuntje Visser, a Dutch woman who works in the mayor's office. Jan Bijvoet portrays her father--Doctor Visser--who treats Germans and Dutch equally well.

The complexity of the movie is the interaction among these people, as the Canadian forces try to overcome the German forces in the area called The Scheldt. (I checked, and it really was important for the allies to possess the region, and equally important for the Germans to prevent this.)

Of course, in a war movie, there's going to be blood and carnage. However, what keeps this film from being just another WWII movie is the complicated plot, that goes in directions you may not expect.

De slag om de Schelde has a pretty weak IMDb rating of 7.1. I thought it was better than that, and rated it 8.

Interesting war drama

[grantss · 7/10 · 16 October 2021]

September 1944. The Allies have captured the port of Antwerp but the Germans still control the Scheldt estuary, preventing supplies reaching Antwerp and the Allied forces. Walcheren Island is key to the German's defence. Operation Market Garden is launched, hoping to penetrate directly into Germany via Arnhem in Holland. A glider from this operation is forced to crash land on Walcheren, leaving a handful of British troops trapped behind enemy lines. Meanwhile a Dutch teenager accidentally kills three Germans, causing a tragic chain of events. On the German staff is a Dutch soldier who now starts to question where his loyalties lie.

An interesting war drama. Covers a lesser-known campaign of WW2, the battles for the Scheldt Estuary (and the Battle of Walcheren in particular) and does so in reasonably entertaining and engaging fashion. A decent enough plot, covering the battle from many sides, with some good action scenes and CGI.

Not brilliant though. The plot is a bit clumsy at times and some aspects seem dumbed-down. The focus of the film is also at a micro level so you don't much information on the bigger picture and the effort involved in the opening up of the Scheldt estuary. While the civilian aspect was interesting much of the time taken on it could have been better spent.

A WW2 Hidden Gem

[koltonbrett · 7/10 · 13 September 2022]

The Forgotten Battle may not be the most memorable war movie ever made, but it is a solid Dutch war drama worth checking out. The aim of this film is to tell the true story of the lessor known Battle of the Scheldt. Visually, this movie is quite impressive. The cinematography beautifully displays an interesting landscape for us. The battle sequences are especially impressive and realistic. They are violent, graphic and expertly shot. It is very much like Saving Private Ryan in that aspect. But there is a lot more going on in this movie than just battle action.

Early on, we're introduced to 3 different characters who's stories we follow. Eventually, they all cross paths, but perhaps not as satisfyingly as one might have hoped. The acting is stellar, although the weakness of this movie is that all the characters feel like supporting acts as the central focus of the movie is the mission of liberating Zeeland in the Netherlands. But it truly is an interesting historical event and story to witness in this format. This battle, as well as this movie, should not be overlooked.

Canadian Army in film that's strangley flat

[vangamer · 6/10 · 15 October 2021]

The Forgotten Battle is a slow burn of a movie that gets some of the historic and military hardware things right but somehow doesn't satisfy as either a personal or historic story.

The setting is the Battle of Scheldt in late 1944 which offers the cinematic rarity of showing the Canadian Army in action as it fought to secure the water approaches to the great port of Antwerp - which was already in Allied hands.

The story follows a young Dutch woman, a British paratroop sergeant who is isolated when his glider goes down, and most interestingly a Dutch national fighting for the Wehrmacht. Borrowing from movies such as Dunkirk or The Young Lions, the movie follows these three very different characters whose paths are destined to intersect by the resolution of the movie.

There are some worthwhile issues here about collaboration and the reasons people make certain choices in the chaos of wartime - and director Matthijs van Heinningen Jr lays them out rather effectively. On this issue, the character of Dr. Visser, a man who hopes to reach compromises with the occupiers is especially sympathetic.

The performances are decent and a lot of care was given to realistic production settings to recreate the campaign - though this was partially ruined when British 1944 paratroops talked about pizza - a massive anachronism.

Two more quick things. It's impossible to believe a real WW II paratroop sergeant would tolerate any of the insubordination the screenwriter dreamed up. Two, it's amazing a Dutch soldier spending two years with the Germans at the Eastern Front (far, far nastier over there) never noticed the Nazis were capable of doing horrible things but realizes that in Zeeland.

Still, the representation of Canadians fighting to take a well-defended causeway was largely historically accurate, even if shown at the Company level.

Overall, however, the movie is so underplayed that it concludes on a rather flat and underwhelming note. It helps not knowing a lot of the social and military realities of WW II and the first great Canadian Army movie remains to be made.

Intimate Award-Winning Dutch Film on the "Battle of the Scheldt" in WWII (*Much of the dialogue is in English)

[Instant_Palmer · 9/10 · 24 January 2022]

Based on true events in Belgium/Netherlands of Allies recapturing the Port Of Antwerp, and the battle to expel the Germans forces still holding onto the critical North Sea seaport channel (the Scheldt) near the end of WWII in Europe.

The film takes it to the ground and personal level, focused on three young protagonists, a British glider pilot, a Dutch-born German solder, and a Dutch civilian girl.

The film is excellent in every regard, winning multiple Dutch film festival awards including Best Film of 2020.

An intimate portrayal of characters based on true events, this film holds back nothing in telling its story.

I'll leave the synopsis at that so as not to give away too much detail, but worth the view for certain.

Photography, direction, sound editing, casting, acting, battle scenes, and even the thankfully subtle soundtrack fill are all spot on excellent.

*Approximately two-thirds of the dialogue is in English, appropriately interspersed with German and Dutch and clear subtitles, making it an easy watch even for those who avoid subtitle films.

One of the best foreign (Dutch) WWII films you will find, and I highly recommend seeing it.

battle of the sloedam

[h-boeije · 6/10 · 5 July 2021]

Although it's a great movie to watch, and looks very good for a dutch production, i think they used a wrong title for it. The battle of the Scheldt is so much more than 'just' the battle at the causeway (Sloedam). It's such a shame they don't even mention the fierce fighting in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the bombing of the dikes and flooding of Walcheren whitch caused a great loss of civilian lives and no mention what so ever of the amfibious landings at Flushing and Westkapelle whitch some of the veterans described to be tougher than the landings at Normandy. All in all a great movie, especialy by dutch standards, just missing a lot of what the title suggests it's abbout.

Interesting WW II movie about a battle that has not been filmed before.

[deloudelouvain · 8/10 · 23 January 2022]

Being from Belgium myself I found this movie very interesting to watch. De battle for the Schelde (a river in The Netherlands and Belgium that is the main entrance for the harbor of Antwerpen) is strategically very important. For once no battle of the bulge, Normandy, or other famous battles, but one that has not been filmed before. The Netherlands and Belgium don't release a lot of movies but when they do it's most of the time quality, and so is this one. You don't necessary have to have Hollywood budgets to make a good movie. Unknown actors (at least to the wider audience) performed really well in this war/drama. The battle scenes looked very realistic, hard and brutal. But it's not only about the battle scenes, it's also about the oppressor and the oppressed, what people felt like in those days and in that area. Zeeland is a beautiful part of The Netherlands and even though they filmed it in Lithuania (mostly because of budgetary problems) it really looked like Zeeland (a place I visited many times). De Slag Om De Schelde (or The Forgotten Battle for the English title) will please anyone that is interested in WW II, not only for Belgians and Dutch people.

Always Remember

[bryangary65 · 7/10 · 21 October 2021]

Decent Dutch war drama and a reminder we should never forget these heroes from all sides

Plenty of action, with some decent acting in particular from Susan Radder.

The Forgotten Battle shows the horrors of war perfectly and is overall a great war film with stunning visuals, but the pacing could have been better

[Holt344 · 9/10 · 15 October 2021]

The Forgotten Battle is a World War II film directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. And written by Paula van der Oest. The film follows a British glider pilot, a Dutch boy fighting on the German side and a Dutch female resistance member who all end up involved in the Battle of the Scheldt that was fought in 1944. Their choices differ, but their goal is the same: freedom. We get to see the battle through these three perspectives, this storytelling is similar to what Christopher Nolan did with Dunkirk. But the similarities kind of ends there, the screenplay is flawed but it's mostly quite great. Where the film succeeds is the cinematography and direction, it's visually a very pleasing movie. It shows how it's become one of the most expensive Dutch films. I thought the film would focus mainly on the battle but I was wrong, it's about the people that the battle and war is affecting, a more human story which I'm totally behind. So it's more character driven than action heavy, but it's of course a war movie and that's shown brilliantly with imagery you'll continue to remember. But with it being focused on three perspectives, the pacing gets worse and it makes the film feel dragged out, story especially as events take too long of a time to build up. Maybe a shorter run time would have helped the film or a different screenplay that focused on mainly two perspectives, the Allies and Axis. But I'll admit that the story arc regarding Teuntje Visser is worthy to be told as it goes hand in hand with Marinus van Staveren's own character arc which is probably the film's best.

The acting in this film was terrific and full of emotion and authenticity. The cast has Gijs Blom as Marinus van Staveren, Jamie Flatters as William Sinclair, Susan Radder as Teuntje Visser and Tom Felton as Tony Turner. Felton being the only actor I recognized who was great in this, but the unknown cast is because how it's a Dutch production which makes The Forgotten Battle even more authentic. I can only give praise to the cast's performances, from the leads to supporting cast to guest stars. Everyone did a terrific job.

Though I did say the script was kind of flawed, there's no lie that Paula van der Oest can write characters and dialogue well. It's where the script is positive, the ability to humanize the German soldiers which often become black and white. With help of the director and actors, the characters are superbly done. The sound design and musical score is brilliant. An average Dutch feature film at the time contained about 500-600 separate audio tracks, while this film has well over 1700. It says something about the production, and some sounds were even arranged by Charles Maynes who did the sound for Clint Eastwood's WW2 film, Letters from Iwo Jima. It's truly award worthy work. Something else that was great is of course the makeup and costume department. The sets, production and art design. Honestly the whole production is impressive. What made me truly love the film was the final 30 minutes or so when all the build up comes together and the big battle is shown, it's everything a battle on this grand scale should be. Chaotic, immersive, engaging and simply just real. It was filmed and edited similarly to the D-Day sequence in Saving Private Ryan which made us feel that we were in the character's shoes in the battle and I felt the same way in this sequence, honestly the entire movie.

The Forgotten Battle isn't meant to romanize war, it shows the horrors of war on all three sides. The Allies, Axis and civilians. It does it perfectly. If it would have shown more of the battle, locations and such, and had a better script and pacing, I would have found the film to be brilliant. With the beautiful cinematography and everything on the technical side being top notch, I can only say that it's great. Solid 9/10 but not a masterpiece.

Visually great.. and that's it!

[JuztinB85 · 6/10 · 5 June 2021]

This movie is visually amazing. What an impressive camera work. Could be straight from Hollywood. Although the storyline itself.. it misses a match with the title of the movie. It's not really about what happened at the Schelde it's focus is on individuals during this war (which could have been anywhere from Arnhem, Rotterdam or Germany). Missed opportunity to actually tell what happend.

Enjoyable but mediocre

[hypersonic8999 · 5/10 · 24 October 2021]

When it comes to WW2 movies, I've probably seen most of them. Not just Hollywood, but Russian, British, Italian, German, French, Dutch, Australian, Chinese, Greek, etc.

This one is nothing to write home about. You can have a good time for the 2 hours it lasts, although it's a bit too drawn-out. By the end of it, you'll forget what it's all about.

The story never really draws you in. The 3 storylines are too far apart from each other, and the jumps between them never really give you the time to immerse yourself in the story or get to know the characters. The way the film is edited also ruins pacing. Things take quite a while to resolve themselves, and by the time they do, you have either forgotten about them or got caught up in other things. As a result, there's barely any emotional impact on the audience.

The plot doesn't give the characters enough depth. As a result the performances come across as a bit wooden, even though the actors seem competent enough to pull off a major production like this.

The story doesn't do anything really original, and doesn't do enough to be apart from other "serendipity" kind of films or films about German occupation. Frankly, I caught myself often thinking back on Black Book (an excellent Dutch WW2 resistance film) and comparing it to this one. Black Book is superior by far.

The film is just too long and too slow for its own good. And I'm not talking about lack of action. You can have good war films with barely any action in them. The problem is that the weaknesses I mentioned become more apparent the longer a film is. If this film was 30-40 minutes shorter, it would have a more compact and better paced story, the vision and the premise would have been given a better chance to shine, and it would have been a lot fairer to the actors' talents.

The director, editor and screenwriter all fail to deliver suspense where it was needed. There's many scenes where characters are about to die and the film might as well have been describing the weather.

In fact, if I was in charge of this, I would have cut the glider pilot's storyline out all together. It's completely irrelevant to the other 2 stories and it leads nowhere beyond a minor tie-in at the end. The ending could have easily been the same without this entire storyline. The storyline itself has an interesting premise. It would have served the entire project, if it was instead turned into a separate film. As it is, it serves no purpose to the plot of this film.

Summary: Decent acting, average direction, a plot with pacing issues and shallow characters but otherwise OK, subpar editing. I don't know where all these 8, 9 and 10 reviews are coming from. It's watchable, even enjoyable, but doesn't really rise above mediocrity.

Brutal, real but depressing

[dingalingalong · 7/10 · 15 October 2021]

It's a good film. The atmosphere is damp throughout and there is no one hero. They all did their bit, good and bad. You can sense the military power and certainly the desperation of war. Slow in many places with no dialogue or a lot with subtitles (but that made it more real). Just frustrating at times when you wanted a character to get moving, stop cowering, take cover or just shoot.

Overall, it showed that for many, the war at the sharp end was brutally short. Never again.

A movie about a major Canadian battle, only we forgot to have any Canadians.

[johnevans-84893 · 7/10 · 18 October 2021]

I was waiting for this movies release and was pleasantly suprised at its quality and realism. I can't help asking though, how do you manage to make a movie about one of the gruelest campaigns on the Western Front and fought almost exclusively by the Canadian Army, and manage to not have a single Canadian in it? It's like making Pearl Harbour without any Americans or Battle of Hastings without the English. Thankfully you put a couple of Brits in it as a stand in for an entire Canadian Army so I guess it's OK. What a slap in the face to the memory of all the real soldiers who fought and often died in that battle.

Well done war movie

[byron-116 · 7/10 · 17 October 2021]

Very good WWII film with believable battle scenes. The film keeps you on edge throughout its 2+ hours. The Forgotten Battle is the best war movie in years.

There is nothing romantic about war

[florisvandriel · 9/10 · 6 June 2021]

I enjoyed this movie very much, although enjoying isn't the right term. It shows the senselessness of war for most of those involved. Praise to the young actors, who did an exceptional job considering the script didn't give their roles a lot of depth. I particularly liked Gijs Blom who plays the part of a Dutch boy in the German service. The German commander was too stereotypically evil for my taste, but other than that this film is certainly in my top three of Dutch war movies. Go see it on the big screen, support your local cinema!

Forgot to write a backstory for the characters

[olmovo · 6/10 · 16 October 2021]

The movie follows multiple characters and some of their storylines interject like you've seen a bunch times before but in this one it kinda felt disjointed. They never really take the time to develop the characters, so you end up not caring what happens to them. This makes some scenes that should have been very impactful and powerful for their respective character come of as unexceptional and dull. At no point was I sitting at the edge of my seat and this is unfortunate because the historical story behind the movie itself is quite interesting. It's not a bad movie by any means just doesn't draw you in like it tries to. So in conclusion, worth a watch but don't expect too much.

A positive surprise

[paaskynen · 8/10 · 15 October 2021]

Having seen a number of Dutch Second World War films, If have to say, I was positively surprised as to how close this film aimed to come to actual situations on the ground. Most of the island of Walcheren had been flooded by the Germans and by Allied bombing of the dikes. One of my uncles survived the battle for Vlissingen in a flooded cellar, floating with a tobacco barrel under each arm. Ironically, he died of lung cancer fifty years later.

As war films go this one is actually pretty good.

Not great, not terrible

[postolachivalentin · 7/10 · 17 October 2021]

It's a war movie as you already saw many. Bit if you are one that enjoys them, then go for it.

Pretty well done, cinematography very good, story average and casting does the job.

Incredible dutch coproduction

[pligter · 9/10 · 5 June 2021]

I was impressed with the quality of camerawork, acting and action. Three storylines coming together in an impressive story about the battle of Zeeland of the Canadians, that was so important for the taking of the harbour of Antwerpen.

Poignant and Memorable

[wheatley-20230 · 7/10 · 20 October 2021]

For those who like war films the battles are impressively staged.

More importantly the story arc finds meaning and poignancy though three interconnected characters witnessing these events from different sides. This is what leaves a strong impression that will stay with me for a while.

Reviewing this is difficult

[joelmulder96 · 5/10 · 15 June 2021]

For me, a Dutchie, this is a very difficult film to review. I am trying to figure out whether to see this as a war film or as a Dutch film. As a war film, this film does not stand out amongst others. Sure, it tells a relatively unknown story and it keeps its premise small and contained. However, it didn't invite me in. I don't know whether it's the characters or just the actors that played them, I just didn't have a solid point of reference. Of course, this could have been a purposeful decision, showing the audience that in those times, people (soldiers especially), were rather expendable. Not having one "hero" who everyone knows is going to survive is part of many a war film. If that is the case, I should definitely watch more war films to wrap my mind around which different choices each director makes in this genre. As a Dutch film, this is genuinely good. And that is saying something. As most fellow Dutchies will agree, Dutch films are just cinematic turd. Not bad or unprofessional or anything, just aggressively mediocre, forgettable, and predictable. Plus, the dialogue is always the verbal equivalent of wet socks. So, compared to those, this movie is pretty solid. Everyone speaks in their own native tongue, the production value is grand, and on a technical level, it is of convincing quality. I think that sums up what I think of the film. I would not say I had a bad time watching it, because I loved experiencing this in theatres. I just had a difficult time reviewing it.

The battle unexplained.....

[ErwinBlaBla · 6/10 · 25 June 2021]

Really loved the movies scenery, storylines and acting. But for me its maximum 6 stars because the movie failed to explain the course of the battle of the schelde.

It started so promissing with the map of europe that started at D-day and ended at Vlissingen. Why not continue to use this to explain where the glider crashed, where the dam was located and show the names of the villages where the scenes took place? That would be so much more catchy for the dutch audience.

And last but not least, the attack on the dam was too much of the same as Saving private Ryan. More originality please!

Poor Casting, Military "Strategy" Confusing

[rebane-92501 · 6/10 · 16 October 2021]

I'm not sure why, but none of the characters are appealing or likable. Between the constant wide eyed bewilderment (it makes my eyes hurt just looking at it) of the Nazi soldier, and the monotone Dutch girl, it's not fun to watch.

Also there are multiple storylines going and the film jumps around wildly between them. It's jarring. There is no clear rhyme or reason for why it shows which storyline when.

Lastly, it's just confusing what motivates the characters to act the way they do. The dialogue doesn't go into enough explanation.