The Forgotten Battle

The Forgotten Battle (Dutch: De Slag om de Schelde) is a 2020 Dutch World War II film directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. that depicts the Battle of the Scheldt in 1944. The film follows a Dutch Axis soldier played by Gijs Blom, a British glider pilot played by Jamie Flatters, and a resistance woman from Zeeland played by Susan Radder.

The Forgotten Battle
DutchDe Slag om de Schelde
Directed byMatthijs van Heijningen Jr.
Screenplay byPaula van der Oest
Story by
  • Paula van der Oest
  • Jesse Maiman
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLennert Hillege
Edited byMarc Bechtold
Music byEmilie Levienaise-Farrouch
Production
companies
  • Levitate Film
  • Caviar
Distributed bySeptember Films
Release date
  • December 14, 2020 (2020-12-14) (Vlissingen)
  • June 5, 2021 (2021-06-05) (Netherlands)
  • October 15, 2021 (2021-10-15) (Netflix)
Running time
123 minutes
CountryNetherlands
Languages
  • Dutch
  • English
  • German
Budget€14 million
Box office$5,976,231[1]

Plot

The film is set in German-occupied Zeeland in September 1944 following the Normandy landings. Teuntje Visser works in the office of the collaborationist mayor. While she and her father (a medical doctor) initially manage to avoid choosing sides, her younger brother Dirk is a member of the Dutch Resistance. Dirk is arrested for attacking a passing German convoy, and is tortured into revealing the names of other Resistance members.

Meanwhile, Marinus van Staveren, a Dutch volunteer in the Waffen-SS Division Das Reich, is reassigned from the Eastern Front to serve as a secretary and translator for the German commandant in Zeeland, Oberst Berghof. Marinus grows increasingly disillusioned with the Nazis' heavy-handed tactics including the execution of civilian hostages. He sympathises with Teuntje and her father as they attempt to negotiate a lighter sentence for Dirk in Berghof's office. Despite initial assurances that Dirk will be treated leniently, Berghof ultimately orders that Dirk be executed along with the other Resistance members without exception. Marinus tries to pass the news secretly to Teuntje but is spotted by a German officer who reports him to Berghof. As punishment, he is selected to be part of the firing squad lineup for Dirk's execution and sent back to combat duty.

After Dirk's death, Teuntje is drawn into the Resistance. Teuntje learns that Dirk had been covertly photographing German artillery positions along the Scheldt river. Teuntje and her best friend, a Resistance member named Janna, are tasked with smuggling Dirk's photographs to the Allied forces advancing on Walcheren island.

Elsewhere, Glider Pilot Regiment glider pilot Sergeant Will Sinclair, Captain Tony Turner, and Staff Sergeant MacKay are separated from their comrades after their Airspeed Horsa glider is hit by anti-aircraft fire and crash-lands in a flooded estuary in Zeeland during Operation Market Garden. Turner is wounded during the crash-landing. After wading through the marshes, they stop at a farmhouse where they meet a Dutch farmer who informs them that Operation Market Garden was a failure and that the Canadian Army have crossed the Belgian border and entered Holland. They decide to head for the Canadian lines and halfway on their journey they take shelter in a house but are attacked by German soldiers, with Turner being killed. The British Airborne Soldiers later join Canadian Army forces advancing on Walcheren island.

Prior to the Battle of Walcheren Causeway, Teuntje is captured while helping Janna escape with the photographs on a boat. Janna is shot and wounded, but makes it to the Allied lines. Marinus takes part in the German defence of Walcheren island while Sinclair participates in the Allied assault. Both sides sustain heavy casualties but the Allied forces ultimately prevail. Marinus deserts the German forces. During the battle, Sinclair and Marinus cross paths but the two men decide to let each other go.

Near the end of the battle, Marinus kills a German soldier attempting to execute Teuntje. Marinus is shot during the struggle. A grateful Teuntje tends to him, but Marinus dies of his injuries. Sinclair and other Allied soldiers find Teuntje next to Marinus' body. Teuntje walks away as the town is liberated.

The film then mentions that the Allied victory at Walcheren Causeway opened to Allied forces a sea route to the port of Antwerp and helped contribute to the Allied liberation of the Netherlands on 5 May 1945.

Cast
  • Gijs Blom as Marinus van Staveren
  • Jamie Flatters as William Sinclair
  • Susan Radder as Teuntje Visser
  • Jan Bijvoet as Doctor Visser
  • Tom Felton as Tony Turner
  • Coen Bril as Henk Schneijder
  • Theo Barklem-Biggs as John
  • Scott Reid as Nigel
  • Marthe Schneider as Janna
  • Ronald Kalter as Dirk Visser
  • Justus von Dohnányi as Oberst Berghof
  • Mark van Eeuwen as Pim den Oever
  • Richard Dillane as Group Captain Sinclair
  • Gordon Morris as Sergeant Mackay

Production

Development

Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. directed the film. Alain de Levita, Paula van der Oest, and Mark van Eeuwen served as producers. EO, NPO, Belgian company Caviar joined the project as co-producers. The film received funding from CoBo, Netherlands Film Fund, Flemish Audiovisual Fund, and the Belgian Tax Shelter. It was announced in November 2019 that Netflix would also co-produce, making The Forgotten Battle the company's first Dutch film.[2]

Filming

With a budget of around €14 million, it is the second most expensive Dutch film made after Black Book (Dutch: Zwartboek) in 2006.[3] It was shot primarily in Dutch and English with some German. Principal photography began in Lithuania where a large part of movie was filmed and continued in the Netherlands and in Belgium. Locations in the Netherlands included Middelburg, Zeeland and the port city of Vlissingen. Some parts of the battle were filmed in and near Limburg, Belgium and in the Sint-Truiden area.[4][5]

Release

A first trailer was released in November 2020.[6] The film had a premiere in Vlissingen on 14 December 2020. It was originally scheduled for a theatrical release in the Netherlands a few days later, but it was postponed to 5 June 2021.[7][8] EO will broadcast the film and it was streaming on Netflix as of 15 October 2021.[9]

Reception

The Forgotten Battle holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on seven reviews and merited a 77% score among viewers.[10]

One reviewer said "Do not skip this one!", because "The Forgotten Battle is a tightly wound war film that works"; adding the film covers a World War II conflict that "that did not make it to the mainstream conversation".[11] The "Decider" review ("Stream it or Skip it") recommends streaming it, saying "The Forgotten Battle approaches the scope of a war epic in look and feel while keeping its focus on the disparate trio of individuals at its core, fated to meet in war."[12]

References
  1. "The Forgotten Battle (2020)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  2. Clarke, Stewart (11 November 2019). "Netflix Boards Its First Dutch Film, War Movie 'The Battle of the Scheldt'". Variety. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  3. Séveno, Victoria (13 December 2020). "The Forgotten Battle: One of the most expensive Dutch films ever made". I Am Expat. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  4. "Where Was The Forgotten Battle Filmed?". Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  5. "The forgotten battle". Pavillon du Zoute. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  6. "Eerste trailer De Slag om de Schelde is adembenemend". RTL Nieuws (in Dutch). 16 November 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  7. "Slag om de Schelde komt zo snel mogelijk uit". RTL Boulevard (in Dutch). 6 January 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  8. "Première De Slag om de Schelde". Bios Agenda (in Dutch). 17 December 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  9. "TTHE FORGOTTEN BATTLE". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  10. "TTHE FORGOTTEN BATTLE". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  11. High on Films review
  12. "Decider" review
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