Another Tuesday without a new release for home viewing to be noted..
So a new film review this Tuesday:
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
Directed by James Kent
Based on the book by Vera Brittain
Screenplay by Juliette Towhidi
Starring Alicia Vikander; Kit Harington; Taron Egerton
Testament of Youth is considered one of the great war memoirs by Vera Brittain, and now after all these years it hits the big screen.
The film has been criticized a bit over seas that it skips many scenes from inside the trenches of World War 1 that were a part of the memoir. I greatly disagree, I felt this was a film about the domestic view of the war and the screenwriter Towhidi made a very good decision. Something had to be left out and we all have seen films depicting the fight scenes and the pictures of war. The film Testament of Youth explores the utter loss, the despair, the incredible empty feeling of losing all that you love. The domestic side of war.
The film starts out like an episode of Downton Abbey. We see Vera swimming on a sunny day with her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and his friend Victor (Colin Morgan). We see her dream of a better future with hope of being excepted to Oxford. We see her meet and fall in love Roland (Kit Harrington). The film progressively gets darker as war becomes more of a presence within the story, We start to see heartbreaking scenes from her work as she works nursing the injured, and her wish to transfer to the front line in France. There is no holding back in how disturbing of an experience it was for Brittain as we are shown first hand of the unpleasantness and the aftereffects of war on both sides.
Here comes an I told you so!!!!!!! Weeks back on my Shadow Awards I noted Alicia Vikander as a star to watch out for after her wonderful performance in Ex Machina. Well I told you so because I think she gives an Oscar worthy performance in this film. She is on the screen 98% of the film and we see her go through a roller coaster of emotions. Somehow, Vikander sells it all, not with big gestures, but with vulnerability, sincerity and the sort of strong energy that can't be described in a review. Vera, to see her in joy and then the umbrealla of sadness as a viewer you just feel her emotions.
Also a quick note: At Oscar time if they ignore Consolata Boyle for Costume Design there is definitely something wrong with the Academy.
Negatives? Just a couple.
-I thought the casting of Kit Harrington as Roland was... well..bad. He had no chemistry with Alicia. I had a hard time believeing they were in love.
-The umbrella of sadness that I mentioned before. You cannot get around it. It is hard to tell people go see a film like this because of the sadness. It is war. Vera gives a speech about war near the end, questioning if there is another way besides war to solve the problems. That question is still relevant today. What is the answer when you are dealing with lunatics like Hitler or ISIS? There is no straight forward answer. She is right by questioning and it is sad there still is no answer.
Testament Of Youth 4 1/2 out of 5 stars...based on a classic autobiography. Adapted to a great screenplay. And a wonderful performance by Alicia Vikander. It is very good, try and catch it.
From the shadows as always thanks for your time.
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