The movie "Waterloo"

Just recently, I watched the 1970 film "Waterloo", starring Rod Steiger as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington. The work was produced by Dino de Laurentiis, and is an account of the pivotal 1815 battle.

I had seen the film on a couple of occasions as a youngster, but decided to revisit it because of my recent study of the Napoleonic era.

The movie opens with a resume of Napoleon's original downfall, abdication and exile to Elba, as well as his dramatic return and reassumption of the reins of power. The rest of the film is devoted to the build-up to Waterloo, and to the battle itself.

Visually, the film is stunning, as would perhaps be anticipated for a de Laurentiis epic. The visuals are ideally complemented by the music.

Steiger gives a superb performance, perfectly capturing Bonaparte's volatility and passion. By contrast, Plummer seemed the ideal choice to embody the cool and aloof Wellington. There is also an excellent supporting cast of character actors, and a cameo for Orson Welles as King Louis.

Although diligent scholars will doubtless detect inaccuracies, both historical and military, overall the film probably takes fewer liberties in these areas than most others of its genre. The battle scenes are suitably elaborate and dramatic, if slightly unrealistic in places. To their credit, the producers do not entirely shy away from the horrors of war in their portrayal of the fighting.

To view the film again in its entirety after a number of years gave me a renewed appreciation of its merits. It remains an accessible, compelling but also reasonably definitive account of its subject.