Movies about war seem to follow one of three trajectories: they focus on either the gore, the glory or the glamour. (In one corner, Apocalypse Now; in the other, Atonement.) Paul Gross’s Passchendaele—a 12-year passion project that the Due South actor directed, wrote, headlined and co-produced to the tune of $21 million—grasps for something in between. Following a tidy Hollywood-esque arc that touches on the brotherhood of men, the futility of war and the power of true love, his second directorial effort (the first being the curling groaner Men With Brooms) is, for the most part, painfully and earnestly Canadian. Transferred to Calgary after being injured at Vimy Ridge, Gross’s shell-shocked character, Michael Dunne, spends his days irking his superiors, wooing a troubled-yet-valiant nurse (on horseback, no less), and trying to keep her asthmatic brother from enlisting. With its long shots of the Albertan foothills, its token Québécois comic relief (courtesy of one of Dunne’s trench mates) and its largely stilted acting, Passchendaele feels not unlike a glossy CBC-TV movie. And though the film is largely mired in its dismally dull romance and lacklustre metaphors, it succeeds remarkably well in its portrayal of the eponymous 1917 battle with the Germans (and the mud and the rain) that cost 15,654 Canadian troops their lives.—Stéphanie Verge

Related:
• View the photos from the Passchendaele opening night gala
• Read about why we have a crush on Passchendaele star Joe Dinicol