An Excellent Film About WWII

Rating: 9/10 (22 March 2005)

A Bridge Too Far is among the best films out there that are actually about the events of WWII, as opposed to being simply set during the war, etc. The fact that it really aims to portray the actual events of Operation Market Garden is one of its strengths, and the film overall succeeds quite well.
For the most part, it is quite accurate about the events, especially as movies go. There are some things that have been changed around a little bit, and clearly some license has been taken with specifics, but on the whole the film is unusually accurate. This is true even down to very small incidents, so that essentially the specific events involving specific historic characters are for the most part basically real, rather than involving fictionalized events in a greater "real" historical context.
The film also does a very good job in cinematography, filming the battle scenes, costumes, props, scenery, etc. This is especially true for 1977, adding great realism and thoroughly helping it to fulfill its great strength of being a basically accurate portrayal of real events. The film also succeeds well at showing the heroism, brilliance, stupidity, waste, compassion, and brutality one encounters in war and those taking part in it.
The film also involved great efforts in terms of showing the scale of events, realistic equipment, and the like. A good example is the part showing all the Allied planes and paratroops. The main failing in this regard is the use of usually newer tanks, modified a bit, as German tanks, but this is not really worth complaining about considering the relative lack of such vehicles, etc. (unlike, say, Shermans).
Some seem to have felt that this movie is too long, but I disagree. When a movie is good, and the scenes are all important to show the events at issue, plot or character development, etc., then I don't care how long a movie is. Here, there may be a lot thrown in, but it is compelling and the elements are for the most part important in showing what happened, which is what the film is trying to do. To cut material out would have been detrimental to the film and weakened its portrayal of the bold (arguably reckless) Operation Market Garden and its ultimate failure to achieve its real goal.
One of my criticisms of the film is one that seems to be shared by many. There are arguably too many stars in key roles ranging from big to small, and this tends to focus viewers on the numerous stars and their own personae, especially since at least one of them is almost always present. However, the fact that for the most part these are good actors helps compensate for this, while some of the actors clearly were outstanding choices to play their parts.
On the whole, this is an outstanding film about the war. If one wants to watch a compelling, exciting, and gripping, yet fairly educational and accurate WWII film, this should be among the top choices.