A tribute to the combatants in the First World War, Front Lines traces the conflict through the writings of six Canadians who experienced it first-hand. Ninety years after the Armistice, these letters home, a war diary written in the heat of events and archival film footage bring the conflict alive with a human face and heart.
The film opens with the words of Claudius Corneloup, 22nd Battalion, writing in his war diary: "What a strange feeling! To look at one's self and to think with justifiable pride: 'I'm at the front.' Oh, how eloquent that first letter, written, sitting on your pack, as shells whistle overhead. And how that first time in the trenches changes the hearts of men. Even the light-hearted are serious. In the blink of an eye all is set ablaze and suddenly we understand what our country expects of us!"
That's the setting. Next we hear from five of his contemporaries in turn, besieged by varying emotions: pride, hope, dedication, fatigue, fright and pain. Professional actors read the poignant words written by five soldiers and a nurse, aged 23 to 31.
The film follows a compelling dramatic arc. Voices sometimes overlap almost like a choir, blowing away the cobwebs of time to show the immediacy of war. These private letters are addressed to mothers, fathers or sisters, and one detects between their lines an unspoken horror censored by war and propriety. The diary entries of Claudius Corneloup explode like mortars amid the other voices, illuminating the truth of trench warfare, the mud, rifles and corpses shown in the archival footage.
The film shows historical footage shot in Montreal and Europe, as well as actual photos of the war diary and letters. The directorial talent of Claude Guilmain breathes life into these 90-year-old documents so that we experience the conflict from the inside.
Front Lines lays bare the souls of dutiful, patriotic and dedicated people confronted by an inhuman situation. How poignant to hear 23-year-old Leo reassuring his mother that all is well and she must not worry, while comrades begin to "fall." Between the lines we detect fear, a sense of absurdity and an urge to flee the nightmare.
These lines, written from the front lines, draw us close to the anxious, solitary yet united men in the trenches.
