182. Benediction; movie review

 

BENEDICTION

Cert 12A

137 mins

BBFC advice: Contains images of real dead bodies, moderate sex references, injury detail

What on earth must it be like to send a child off to war or to be a soldier fighting on the frontline?

Death stalked families across Europe between 1914 and 1918 and, unlike during the 1940s, few would have understood why lives were being risked and lost.

Troops were merely told to follow orders.

And that was the point of Siegfried Sassoon's protest letter which he had hoped would shame politicians into ending the conflict.

Instead, the lieutenant who has been commended for his bravery, was sent to a hospital for the mentally disturbed.

Benediction is passionate and poetic - Sassoon's words are laid over real, horrific footage from the Great War.

Jack Lowden plays the writer as a young man and Peter Capaldi portrays him as a crusty, angry older citizen.

Despite the puritanic times in which he lived, the young Sassoon has multiple affairs with men, including Ivor Novello (Jeremy Irvine) who emerges as a total narcissist.

His ill-fated attempts to find love are chronicled during the war where he became friends with Wilfred Owen (Matthew Tennyson) and thereafter when he was embroiled with Stephen Tennant (Calam Lynch).

However, these were days long before the socially acceptability of being gay and Sassoon is faced with the decision over whether to yield to conformity rather than risk going to jail.

To that end, he looks towards Hester Gatty, played in her youth by Kate Phillips and in older age by Gemma Jones.

In may ways, Sassoon's is a sad tale but I enjoyed the way Lowden took his part with great gusto.

However, despite being a fan of some Terence Davies films, I found too many unnecessary tangents and felt the drift into old age too melancholy.

Reasons to watch: Passionate and poetic biopic.

Reasons to avoid: High-brow and arty

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7//10

Did you know? In 1985, along with Wilfred Owen and other World War 1 poets, Siegfried Sassoon was commemorated in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey.

The final word. Jack Lowden: "It’s one of the best-written scripts I’ve ever read. Everything about it was worked out to a T. It was like reading a novella. I’d never worked with a director on a script like that.”

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