Under his command, the accomplishments of the Canadian army were decisive, especially towards the end of the conflict when its units played an important role in the victory of the Allied forces. I was asked to find a way to communicate the greatness of this towering character. Several books and stories exist, but few moving images, good sequences albeit, but often captured from a distance. Luckily, we were able to unearth unique footage (likely staged for newsreels) of the general and his officers planning a battle. The silent black and white footage was damaged and incomplete, interrupted by merciless jump cuts. To make up for the missing material, we chose to recreate the original office space in a studio. We fashioned replicas of the furniture, maps, objects on the desk and shot all the necessary cut-aways to be able to combine them fluidly with the original shots.

With input from Tim Cook, a prominent WWI historian, we then imagined what they might have been saying and recreated their voices with the help experienced dubbing artists. The result is a rare journey into the past. Privy to a strategic conversation, we find the general and his accomplices faced with a difficult decision, as crucial for this man of character as it would end up being for the soldiers he sent into battle.