When Bill Rohan is enlisted in his national service, he knows that it will bring him surprises and shocks. He befriends Percy, a fellow enlisted man and they start to go around town, meet girls and enjoy life. When they are both saved from being posted to Korea, life seems a joy but instead it leads to the communication corp and a hard-nosed and nasty officer. This also leads to a new woman in the life of Bill. This also gives him a brush with royalty. Then back to the home on the island and a realisation that life is a dream best lived like a movie.

John Boorman and his films have a vast and varied legacy. From his sublime Point Blank to his dire The Exorcist 2, he divides and directs opinions toward polatic opposites. I loved Deliverance and Hope and Glory, the latter this is the sequel to. They both have a bounce in the way they conduct themselves in story telling and in direction. Boorman strips off the layer of control and so anything can happen. Neigh it does happen in these films.Connections are juxataposed, people are filled with ideas and actions have reaction but not in that order. He uses narrative as the canvas but seemed to then bend it, bat it and then bowl it toward a fresh field of open space and time.

They zinged along and made you transfixed to the lives they are showing. This film has a variety of similar content that could be said to be as effective and skilled. We have the comedic elements of army life, the pathos of love and tenderness of friendship. The young leads are superb and endear themselves to you. Heartfelt emotion links with real presence. They carry the film along and allow for the viewer to feel a comfort and a consideration in there presence. This could also be said for the turns of Richard E Grant and David Thewlis. Both give solid preformances and also keep you company through the films length. Having a comfort with charecters is the mark of good acting and great directing. Both work seemlessly it seems to capture the attention and the focus.They both work hard at making the piece seem to have a feeling.

So whats the problem then? Why the 3.5? Its simple really. The film is a Sunday afternoon piece. It has the manner of a British comedy of the mid 60s with the occasional roughness of the 70s comedies. It does not have enough to give the great performances a place to search for. This is a film that is worth the time spent watching but is far away from the joy of Hope and Glory. It lacks that films sardonic wit and instead has a few well placed giggles. Boorman in his commentary seems to suggest he saw the film as a light charecter piece. It looks great for one and sounds great but in the end lacks the weight of his other works.

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}