Most of that footage is not Faux footage, it is actually newsreel footage from the real events. It looks like it would be expensive to shoot because it is the real deal and the filmmakers have digitally inserted the movie's actors into the footage. I think it looks great, mostly 'cause I helped provide some of the footage to the filmmakers. Reality is more convincing than fiction, especially when your dealing with war footage.

Err, Allen conceived Hemingway (and all the artists in the film) as cliches, so being 'over-the-top' was necessary for the filmmakers' conception of the character. If there is a problem with the character, it is Allen's one-note writing, not the performance.