Storming Juno (2010)

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Allied forces landing in Normandy on D-Day, so I decided to watch 6 movies about that historic day that were each made in different decades which give a slightly different perspective on the events of that fateful day.

Here is the review of the 5th film that I watched.

Enjoy!

“According to plan, we were to land on the beach at ‘H’ hour just when the naval bombardment was scheduled to stop. We were scared. Anyone who said that he wasn’t was either a liar or just plain crazy.” – Lt. Bill Grayson

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 Jun 2019)

Brief Synopsis – Reenactment of the stories of three Canadian soldiers as they work along with the allied forces to take control of the Beaches in Normandy on D-Day.

My Take on it – This is a film that I came across by accident when searching for films about D-day and was quite happy that I was able to get an even different perspective on the events of D-Day, this time from the view of the Canadian soldiers who landed on Juno Beach.

The story told here is quite fascinating yet the fact that it is presented in a lackluster and superficial way hurts things a lot.

The film tells us the tales of three soldiers who are connected to the fighting of that day from three different kinds of units; a tank commander, a infantryman and a paratrooper.

All three have fascinating tales to tell about the events of that day, but I’m not convinced that the way that they chose to tell these stories was the right way.

The production value of this film is pretty weak and it makes things much harder to believe the events based on how they are shown.

The acting is pretty mediocre and in some cases laughable which also hurts the effect that this film can have especially when the viewer find sit hard to believe that they are watching stories that happened to real people when those embodying them don;t feel genuine and real enough.

The final 1/3 of the film switches gears and allows u to watch interviews with some of the real men who fought and survived through that terrible and tragic day.

Watching them describe the events of D-Day and how it has lived with them ever since and in some cases haunted them for so many years is quite emotional to watch and it’s unfortunate that this entire film couldn’t have been done that way because it would have been so much more effective.

Bottom Line – Interesting story that is told well even if it’s done in a superficial way. The three stories told are fascinating stories that give us varying perspectives on the events of the day. The production value of this film though is quite weak and that hurts things more than helps because it’s hard to believe that we are watching something that really happened. The acting is also pretty weak and the actors don’t manage to give off the feeling that they are really the characters that they are meant to embody. The last third of the film works much better than the first 2/3 since it switches gears and delivers a documentary style where we get to see interviews with some of the real men who fought and survived on Juno Beach that is quite emotional and much more effective than everything preceding it.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Sgt. Léo Gariépy’s Sherman is an M4A3E8 Sherman; while the 1st Hussars (Gariépy’s unit) were equipped with Shermans, they were not of this particular model. The 1st Hussars were equipped with Duplex Drive M4A4 Sherman, the Duplex Drive being fitted to it and the M4A1, not the M4A3E8, which was introduced in November of 1944 and well after D-Day. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)