A Bridge Too Far 4K 1977 Ultra HD 2160p

In September 1944, after the successful invasion of Normandy, the Allies prepare a covert Operation Market Garden. However, a combination of poor choice of battle tactics, Allied commanders' disregard for intelligence, miscalculations in military administration and technical support, bad luck and unfavorable weather leads the British 1st Airborne Division under General Urquhart, which captured “one bridge that was too far away [from the main Allied forces]” to disaster. As a result of the operation, 4/5 of the division's personnel were destroyed and taken prisoner. The Polish paratroopers of General Sosabowski, who rushed to its aid, perished in the air - the Nazis knew the location of the landing zones. Meanwhile, the XXX Corps of Lieutenant-General Horrocks manages to consolidate the success of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions of the U.S. Army, but it cannot reach the bridge in Arnhem in time.

The Allies failed to achieve their strategic goal of capturing all the bridges on their way to Germany.

User Review
A true historical epic from the 1970s that inspired generations of World War II war dramas understandably remains a tough nut to crack for the average viewer. For most people who don't pay attention to world history, a three-hour film about the landing of Allied troops in the occupied Netherlands can be quite the ordeal, without the proper emotional need to understand what's going on. If, like me, you are in the narrow circle of viewers who avidly devour quality war dramas, scene by scene, “A Bridge Too Far” may prove to be a real inspiration to sit down, after viewing, for optional literature and immerse yourself in the subject matter. In the process, one is pleasantly surprised by the historical accuracy and meticulousness that is not always characteristic of art cinema.

The first important feature of the film, which is worth emphasizing, is its narrative and semantic induction - the treatment of a big heavy topic through the prism of private local stories. Most war dramas tell small personal stories, focusing on a limited cast of characters that evoke vivid emotions. “A Bridge Too Far” came out as a retrospective of a major landing operation that attempts, almost with a documentary approach, to recreate a global view of the events of nine days. On the one hand, the story gathers for the viewer the events of different branches of the army, the personalities of their commanders, the successes and failures of their tasks, and the geography of the operation. On the other hand, in the pursuit of the general, the emotional involvement of people in each individual story is lost. We see a heart-wrenching scene of a character's death, but it does not evoke commensurate emotions, as it was presented cursorily, or with interruptions to other lines.

This same approach of an outside viewer watching a dozen locations and an equally large cast of characters at once challenges the traditionally more modestly paced stories. “A Bridge Too Far” is a kind of giant of big cinema and a legend of a bygone century. In an era when a large-scale landing of paratroopers could not be drawn on a computer, hundreds and thousands of extras and dozens of pieces of equipment created a sense of scale. On the example of not the largest operation of World War II, at least in terms of the number of people and equipment, we get an idea of how grandiose and terrible an undertaking war can be. The movie is replete with scenes that beg to give their sweeping panoramic shots the gift of postcards. When the camera simultaneously captures hundreds of parachutes, a column of heavy military equipment, or a ruined Dutch city, it is breathtaking in places.

Perhaps the most notable recent example of a picture that follows the same precepts of the overall sweeping view of events is Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. The 1977 story, however, also doesn't give the viewer enough time to like the characters, due to their only private role in what's going on. There is no usual linear plot here, describing the long journey of just one squad of people. Instead, we have an abundance of first-rate actors - at least five well-known and recognizable Oscar-winning actors. However, the story itself, selectively snatching events selectively, does not allow them to unfold properly. “A Bridge Too Far” is a must-see movie experience if you have an awe for war dramas and iconic twentieth-century cinema.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (66.7 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Info Audio

#English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
#French: Dolby Digital 5.1
#Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0

Info Subtitles

English SDH, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish.