Paris, 1814. Having lost all the battles, Napoleon is forced by the Coalition forces to renounce power, and goes to exile to Elba. However, in 1815, Napoleon returns back to France, and all the French soldier lay their arms and deflect back to his side again. King Louis XVIII, installed by the Coalition, flees Paris. The Coalition assembles its forces again and sends commander Wellington and his British Army to attack the French Army at Waterloo. In the battle, Napoleon suffers from a disease, yet his forces are able to gain ground. However, the Prussian Army reinforcements outweigh in the favor of the Coalition, and thus the British win against the French at Waterloo.
There is an unwritten rule that almost every movie about Napoleon is good, but never able to be truly great in capturing all the vast events and pathos that surrounded his extraordinary life. Having used Napoleon as a supporting character in his previous film "War and Peace", the director Sergei Bondarchuk gave him here the lead and explored him more, though only in the period of the Hundred Days, the final stages of his military career. "Waterloo" feels incomplete and narrowed down, unable to give a broader psychological portrait of Napoleon who feels underwritten. All the focus is on the one-hour long (!) Battle of Waterloo which starts around 70 minutes into the film, and lasts until the end. Rod Steiger is good as Napoleon and gives it his best, even when more is implied than actually written, and some of his classic lines have spark, such as when he says: "Never interrupt an enemy when he is making a mistake", or when he tries to boost the morale of his soldiers during fighting: "I've been in this position before at Battle of Marengo. I lost the battle at 5 o'clock, and won it again by 7!" Sadly, the opening act could have been better made, since it has too many ellipses. For instance, Napoleon's exile at Elba is not shown, though it would have been interesting to see how he decided to return back to France in a boat. At least the famous moment where he walks to French soldiers, under the command of a new King, and persuades them to lay down their arms and switch to his side again, is there. The battle is shown in great detail, with aerial shots of thousands of soldiers on horses, various explosions and one great camera pan across the hill to reveal all the army formations, though it does become rather tiresome and schematic near the end. The conclusion feels interrupted, yet "Waterloo" manages to give a small glimpse inside this historical event in a realistic, objective manner.
Grade:++
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