VIMY: Heaven to Hell
Anglo-Canadian film house makes history
"When we do history programs, we call it hands-on history," said Pauline Duffy, one half of yap films, a young independent production company that straddles the UK and Canada. Hands-on, indeed. Yap literally dug up history in its latest venture – a $1.3 million film exploring Canada’s awe inspiring role in the 1917 WWI Battle of Vimy Ridge in northeastern France, securing the single most successful Allied advance on the Western Front to that date.
The film house, based in Leeds and Toronto, sent archaeologists and engineers underground,
opening up trenches and tunnels that snaked beneath the battleground. They made history in the process, discovering tunnels not seen since the Canadian Corps stormed German forward defences in a four-division attack, incorporating a secret advance of soldiers 7.6 metres below the surface.
The resulting 70-minute film, VIMY: Heaven to Hell, commissioned by Canada’s History Television pits cutting-edge computer generated battle scenes against fly-on-the-wall footage of the battleground excavation and demonstrations that test the effectiveness of innovative war tactics perfected at Vimy.
"We found loads of artifacts connected to mining the tunnels – a wagon, underground train, artillery and a badge," said Ms Duff y. "The Ridge was fought over for three years: there were hundreds of thousands of French and British casualties in previous efforts to take it, yet the Canadians came in and took it in three days. How did they do that? That’s what we asked, and going underground and opening up tunnels was one way of discovering how."
London’s world première, hosted by the Canadian High Commission and the Imperial War Museum, was held at the museum and attracted a capacity audience including a group of 20 Canadian and British Veterans together with family members of fallen soldiers at Vimy, standing proud in their uniforms and medals. Other guests included politicians, peers and policy makers and international media representatives. A post-screening reception enabled guests to discuss the 70-minute film with some of its stars – a team of British and Canadian archaeologists and historians.
In what has been described one of the greatest engineering feats of WWI, 11 main underground subways were carved through chalk beds buried deep beneath the Ridge. In a parallel strike of military genius, the Canadian Corps developed 3D maps, aided by aerial photographs, shaping full-scale battle courses in France and Canada for troops to practise on before the assault.
For Canada, the battle became a cornerstone of its image in the world. In 1922, the French government ceded to Canada in perpetuity Vimy Ridge and surrounding land. The newly restored Canadian National Vimy Memorial was dedicated during April’s 90th anniversary commemorations.
