Review of Waterloo (1970) by Justin P — 30 Sep 2005

Waterloo, besides having the best large-scale battle in filmdom, using 20,000 Russian troops as extras with no CGI, also spends more than a little time on the character of Napoleon, a bit less on Wellington his opponent at Waterloo. Steiger as the "Thief of Europe" and Plummer as Wellington are well cast. Costuming was done in great detail, and is especially noticeable at the Allies, Dance/Ball on an evening before the battle.

Its difficult to flesh out the characters, because in the end the battle is the thing. Russian director Bondarchuk found a similar piece of ground and made the Waterloo area to such accuracy that he even had underground water lines put in to recreate the muddy terrain the battle was fought on. From the opening cannon volley to the last square of the defeated French there's a great sense that the actual battle went very much like what you're watching. Just add another 100,000 or so men. But Bondarchuk plays what he has to great effect.

The DVD is as bare as it can be. The menu consists of 'Play'. Video is a bit grainy but passable. A surround audio mix for Waterloo would be awesome but alas its just in stereo you any surrounds you can get are gonna by synthetic. The DVD gets a 7/10 mostly for just being available.