BATTLE OF THE BRAVE - DVD review

Shakespeare gave us the comic rallying cry, "Shoot all the lawyers." This weak historical romance may well prompt a call for a different occupational cleansing. Near the end of "Battle of the Brave," an "epic" set in Canada in 1759-61, one of the main characters is hanged. But after spending 143 minutes watching this slow-moving, melodramatic soaper that has practically no battle scenes and only a few brave-but-cardboard characters, some viewers might wish it was the screenwriter dangling from a noose.

Without a doubt, the script's the main reason that this film fails miserably. The dialogue is just plain bad, and most of the time you're conscious of these lines having been written. There are also far too many monologues and reaction shots, and despite a huge amount of information delivered through the characters, the storyline seems confused and contrived. Whether it's the editing or writing it's hard to say, but we jump around way too much. The result is a long film that feels longer and has less in common with a true historical romance like "Dr. Zhivago" than it does a cheesy made-for-TV mini-series.

And the performances aren't good enough to make us ignore all the film's shortcomings. Noemie Godin-Vigneau offers a strong portrayal of the heroine, Marie-Loup, who is such a revolutionary spitfire that Delacroix would have painted her. Which is to say, she's also an idealized character. So is the film. But it's a bad idealized film.

The establishing shot shows Marie-Loup coming to the aid of an Indian woman, Acoona (Bianca Gervais), as she's being bullied and pursued by French soldiers. Like a female Errol Flynn she does this with flair, which is seen and appreciated by a French trapper who's come to Quebec to settle his late father's estate. Francois le Gardeur (David La Haye) ends up being the male protagonist and Marie-Loup's romantic interest. He also becomes the pawn in the local priest's plan to try to keep the French, who are at war with the English, from ceding their Canadian territory to their rival. What's in it for him? Catholicism was the main religion of France, but the Church of England was the official religion of the country that might take over Quebec. Gerard Depardieu has a reputation for being a good actor, but you couldn't prove it by this film. As Father Thomas, he seems upstaged in every scene he's in with either romantic lead. Then again, we're prejudiced against him because of a sappy deathbed confession at the start which sets up the rest of the film as a flashback.

The ostensible villain, aside from the not-so-good Father, is Sebastien Huberdeau, who seems absolutely ill-suited to work in a period film. With his soul patch and way of speaking and walking he's as contemporary-looking as can be, and so it's hard to believe that he's the dashing Captain Xavier Maillard, le Gardeur's childhood friend and a rival, now, for the peasant woman's interests. Rounding out the main cast is little Juliette Gosselin, who plays the widowed Marie-Loup's daughter. She's really in Ninja-feminist training, and the lessons are so obvious that the audience feels you're sitting there in class with her as Mom instructs. There are a number of minor characters, certainly, and the one that seems most wasted is Colm Meaney as Benjamin Franklin. But they're all done in by lines that seem hokey-lines like "You drink too much. We can't go on like this. We must separate."

The one bright spot is the cinematography. "Nouvelle-France" was filmed on location in Quebec, Nova Scotia, and London, and there are moments that feel "Pocahontas" in their devotion to the natural world. It's too bad the rest of the film wasn't as inspired. Though one character is martyred, watching this, we feel the character's pain.

Video:
"Battle of the Brave" was shot using 35mm film in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and that ratio is preserved here on anamorphic widescreen. Mastered in High Definition, the picture looks really good for a standard DVD, which is the consolation prize for watching.

Audio:
The audio is a decent English Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English. Curious that there aren't French subtitles.

Extras:
Mercifully, there are no extras.

Bottom Line:
The DVD box proclaims this "an epic tale of desire, courage, and destiny," but viewers are destined to be disappointed by this overly melodramatic film that falls short both as historical romance and as a period film. It's rated PG-13 for violence and sexual content, but it's even dull in that respect as well, so the rating seems harsh-not that this would hold the interest of anyone under 13.