Battle of the Brave Movie Review

Epic romance, period setting (18th century war between Britain and France over control of Canada), amazing cast (check out the last few names), Celine Dion song on the soundtrack... sounds like a recipe for success. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The film was retitled from its original Nouvelle-France to the generic Battle of the Brave and eventually dumped on DVD, at least in the U.S.

The problem? It would be easy to blame a lifeless script (poor woman and trapper have a romance, Cold Mountain style, while war rages around them), but the movie is outright sunk by its choice of leads. For some reason, the big names like Depardieu, Jacob, and Roth are relegated to mere cameos, and poor newcomers Noémie Godin-Vigneau (a rather plain and mousy type) and David La Haye (who kind of looks like that kid who ended up moving in with the family on Roseanne) are saddled with carrying an epic story (from war to accusations of witchcraft), a challenge which they can't possibly rise to. Their performances here are borderline embarrassing, and after less than an hour of this 2 1/2-hour bonanza, you'll be dying for Dion's inevitable closing number to take you away from it all. God, never thought I'd say that.