Le Batailon du Ciel (Sky Batallion) is a monumental undertaking, especially for the financially strapped postwar French film industry. Running nearly three hours, the film is a meticulous re-creation of but one aspect of the 1944 Normandy Invasion. Director Alexander Esway concentrates on the French paratroopers who participated in the invasion, with several of the actual battalion members appearing in minor roles. Throughout, the acting and direction is realistic, arguably even more so than in the larger-scale D-Day epic The Longest Day. Le Batailon du Ciel was filmed with the joint cooperation of the French Army and Britain's RAF. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi