Sharpe's Waterloo
by Tom Clegg
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Abigail Cruttenden, Alexis Denisof, Cécile Paoli, Daragh O'Malley, Sean BeanDirector: Tom Clegg
Brand: BFS ENT and Multimedia Limi
Cinematographer: Chris O'Dell
Editor: Keith Palmer
Producer: Malcolm Craddock
Producer: Muir Sutherland
Writer: Bernard Cornwell
Writer: Charles Wood
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); French (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Bfs Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Sharpe's Waterloo
Movie Review: Richard Sharpe fights his final battle at Waterloo
Summary: 5 Stars
The cross fans of Bernard Cornwell's maverick British officer Richard Sharpe have had to deal with in these fourteen films have been the depictions of Napoleonic War battles. Because of budget limitations military engagements are played out with dozens of soldiers, rather than the thousands that were usually engaged in the real battles. However, while they are still working with only dozens of soldiers in recreating the Battle of Waterloo in this final installment, there is a concerted effort by director Tom Clegg to pull out all the stops and fake it as well as they can. The result is that "Sharpe's Waterloo" provides a fitting finale to our hero's service in the Duke of Wellington's army.
At the start of this one Napoleon has grown tired of his exile on Elba and returned to France, where his army is flocking to him as he heads for Paris. Sharpe (Sean Bean) is in Normandy with Lucille (Cécile Paoli) when word comes that Boney is back for one last big fight and he has to rejoin Wellington (Hugh Fraser) to see this one through to the end. Harris (Jason Salkey) and Hagman (John Tams) join him as well and even Patrick Harper (Daragh O'Malley) shows up, although he has not re-enlisted. Sharpe is now a leftenant colonel, his position bought for him by Prince William of Orange (Paul Bettany), commander of the Dutch forces in the Allied army, who is glad to have the heroic Sharpe on his staff. The problem is that the prince is an inept military commander at best and a coward at worse, which he has several opportunities to show during the course of the battle.
Meanwhile, Jane Sharpe (Abigail Cruttenden), tired of the slights of polite society because she has abandoned her war hero husband and now is shacked up with Lord Rossendale (Alexis Denisof), wants her lover to kill Sharpe during the confusion of battle. We get graphic proof that Rossendale is not up to confronting Sharpe in a duel when the two show up at the last formal party before the battle. Sharpe no longer wants Jane back (and why Rossendale wants her now that Sharpe's money is all but spent is beyond me as well), he just wants the money. But if there is one thing I have learned from watching Sharpe's adventures it is that it is the rare time indeed that our hero will kill someone he needs to kill.
The conceit of "Sharpe's Waterloo" is that our hero manages to be in the thick of the fighting during the battle. The military situation was that Bonaparte was facing an Anglo-Dutch force of 77,000 under Wellington and a Prussian army of 102,000 commanded by Field Marshal Blucher. Napoleon had 72,000 men and a detached right-wing corps of 33,000 under Marshal Grouchy in between the two opposing forces to prevent them from linking up and crushing his army. On June 16, 1815 Bonaparte defeated the Prussians at Ligny, while at the same time Wellington had held a vital set of crossroads at Quatre Bras against Marshal Ney. Of course, Sharpe and his Chosen Men are there. At that point Napoleon detached Grouchy to keep the Prussians in retreat and away from Wellington at Waterloo while he turned his main strength towards the British.
The next day Wellington's army was drawn up across a small ridge at Mont St John, just south of the village of Waterloo, anchored by a series of strong points, the center one of which was the farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, which is where Sharpe and the Prince of Orange end up. The battle is obviously the main action here and there is the whole bit of how the animosity between Sharpe and Rossendale will play out, but the other key part of his one is Sharpe's troubles with "Silly Billy" as the prince comes to be known (there are worst things to call him, which involve a silk stocking filled with something not very nice, a phrase that, ironically, was historically Napoleon's descripton of his foreign minister Talleyrand, a master of diplomatic intrigue). The Prince of Orange repeatedly made mistakes that ended up with entire battalions of troops being destroyed or routed during Waterloo and after serving under a string of titled officers who were worse than butchers our hero finally reaches his breaking point. The straws that break the camel's back will strike fans of the series to the heart while those who know all about the battle will be impressed with how well Cornwell has integrated his characters into its key points.
After La Haye Sainte fell in the center of Wellington's line, the British commander called in all of his reserves. At that point Napoleon ordered the advance of his most feared troops, the Imperial Guard. At the pivotal moment and place on the battlefield, there is Richard Sharpe. One of the nice touches of "Sharpe's Waterloo" is the preoccupation of Sharpe and Harper with getting to see old Boney himself. After all these years and all the miles fought against Napoleon's troops in Portugal, Spain and France, the two old soldiers would just like to see the face of the enemy just once before the end.
If you have ever seen a British square in battle then you know it is a memorable seen. Your most recent opportunity would be the latest remake of "The Four Feathers" with Heath Ledger, but I do remember seeing Sergei Bondarchuk's 1970 film "Waterloo" with the long distance shot of several British squares being attacked by French cavalry. When I watched the mini-series "Napoleon" I could but only imagine what the Sharpe series would have done with that many bodies in all those wonderful costumes. But what "Sharpe's Waterloo" loses in scope it makes up for with the parts played by the characters we have come to know so well. A tip of the cap to Clegg for coming up with a memorable final shot of Sharpe before the credits role for the last time.
Summary of Sharpe's Waterloo
Studio: Bfs Ent & Multimedia Limi Release Date: 04/24/2001 Run time: 100 minutesSimilar DVD Movies
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