Testament Of Youth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms/film/testament_of_youth

I saw Testament Of Youth as part of my FDA accreditation course. It was the second film they'd shown to us, the first being the hilarious vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows. When the film was announced there were whispers in the auditorium, clearly from fellow bloggers who had heard of the film, or perhaps from people who were familiar with the book by Vera Brittain on which the film is based. I am sad to say that I was ignorant to both, but as a keen film fan of most genres, I was interested to see what this film was about.

I will admit that I might have felt a small pang of disappointment when I realised it was a "war" film, so let me start right away by saying that I was in no way disappointed by the end of the film, and it gave me a whole new perspective on what to expect from a "war" film.

For those as unfamiliar as I was, the story is told from the point of view of young Vera Brittain, who's only want in life is to go to university. She loves books and hates her cooped up home life, and her happiest day is when she wins a scholarship to Oxford. Little does Vera know that the First World War is just around the corner, and with it, her life will change forever.

To say more would be a great disservice to a beautifully crafted film, a wonderfully woven and detailed story and some of the most heartbreaking performances I have seen in a long time. Testament Of Youth pulled me in completely, it compelled me to watch and it made me feel every emotion that brave Vera feels.

At the time, it was the first film I had seen Alicia Vikander in, and despite my misgivings that this unknown young lady could hold my attention for the full span, let alone have me singing her praises afterwards, she did just that. It's a shame that her more widely released film Ex_Machina did not allow her to show her full range of talent as she is honestly tremendous here. As is the 'better known for Game of Thrones' actor Kit Harington. They are ably supported by the always amazing Hayley Atwell, Dominic West, Emily Watson and Miranda Richardson.

After watching (and crying through) Testament Of Youth, I wanted so much to read Vera Brittain's book on which the film was based. I sought it out at my local library and found an absolute monster doorstop of a novel. I mean no disrespect to Ms Brittain when I say that I managed to read about 2 chapters of the book before I gave up with it. The members of my book club will tell you that I do not give up easily, but I found the book completely unreadable. I really do have the utmost respect for Ms Brittain to overcome what she went through in the war and then write it all down for the world to read. But her book was written in a very different language to today's English. In many ways that's a good thing, especially in the day and age of text speak, but it's a case of why use 5 words if you can use 50. Every sentence is written in such a convoluted way that it's hard to decipher what she's really telling us.

I therefore doff my cap to the screenwriter Juliette Towhidi who has done such a fantastic job of converting this mammoth book into not just a watchable movie, but a memorable and beautiful movie. One which I urge all of my readers (yes, all two of you) to see. 9 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 25th October 2014
UK Release Date - 16th January 2015

Cast Overview:
Alicia Vikander ~ Vera Brittain
Kit Harington ~ Roland Leighton
Hayley Attwell ~ Hope
Taron Egerton ~ Edward Brittain
Dominic West ~ Mr Brittain
Emily Watson ~ Mrs Brittain
Miranda Richardson ~ Miss Lorimer
Colin Morgan ~ Victor Richardson
Anna Chancellor ~ Mrs Leighton
Joanna Scanlan ~ Aunt Belle

Director ~ James Kent
Writer ~ Vera Brittain (Book) and Juliette Towhidi

The Book Thief

http://www.thebookthief.com/

I was told by my bestie in the states that The Book Thief was an amazing book, and on the strength of her recommendation, I bought a second hand copy for myself. Not long after I heard it was being made into a movie, and after seeing the trailer, without having read the book yet, I did want to see the film. That was until my cinema buddy saw it and told me that the acting from the child stars was really quite bad. However, having seen some awful films recently, I still wasn't put off, and so my friend and I decided to see The Book Thief anyway.

The story is narrated by death, as he observes a communist woman in Nazi Germany who is fleeing with her two children, Liesel (Sophie Nelisse) and her brother Werner. Death takes the sickly Werner before Liesel's mother can hand over the two children to be re-homed with Hans (Geoffrey Rush) and Rosa Hubermann (Emily Watson), leaving the childless couple with only Liesel to care for. Whilst the war rages, Liesel befriends her next door neighbour Rudy (Nico Liersch) and learns how to read with the help of Hans and a book she stole from a book burning ceremony in the town square. One night she bears witness to the Hubermann's taking in a young Jewish boy by the name of Max (Ben Schnetzer), who they hide in their basement. Will Liesel be able to keep Max a secret, or will Rudy, and in turn, Rudy's Nazi father, find out what the Hubermann's are up to?

Straight off let me say that the child acting is nowhere near as bad as my friend made out. I actually thought that considering both children had not had a lot of acting experience, and given that Sophie Nelisse is of French Canadian descent, but had to speak in English with a German accent, they both did fantastically well. Their performances were believable and I was emotionally invested in the characters they created. Similarly I thought that the adult actors were superb too, again considering they had to speak in English with German accents and none of them are German. 

I have not read the book and although I now know how the story ends I would still be keen to read it, to see if it goes into anymore detail about Death, as he didn't feature all that much, he merely bookends the film. I found his narration to be fascinating and I would have liked a little more of that if anything. I will certainly be interested to see if he appears more in the novel. 

The Book Thief is certainly not a cheery film, but I think if you know that going in then you won't be disappointed. It's also engaging, thought provoking and moving. I can't tell you if it's a faithful adaptation, but I'd certainly say it was worth seeing. 7.5 out of 10.

Viewing Date - 11th March 2014

UK Release Date - 26th February 2014

Cast Overview:

Hans Hubermann ~ Geoffrey Rush

Liesel Meminger ~ Sophie Nelisse

Rosa Hubermann ~ Emily Watson

Max Vandenburg ~ Ben Schnetzer

Rudy Steiner ~ Nico Liersch

Death ~ Roger Allam

Director ~ Brian Percival

Writer(s) ~ Markus Zusak (Novel) and Michael Petroni (Adaptation)