Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 296: The War At Home

War films have long been a staple of the Best Picture category with World War II in particular forming the basis of a lot of the nominees. But the phrase war film conjures up images of men in helmets being shot at and learning things about themselves while in the trenches. With the possible exception of Since You Went Away, no films have really focused on those left behind while the men are away fighting in the war. Hope and Glory differs from Since You Went Away primarily because it is quintessentially British. Based on the real-life experiences of director John Boorman, who grew up during the Blitz, the hero of the piece is ten year old Billy Rowan. The film begins with the start of the war and sees Billy's father join up for active service even though his age eventually means that he is forced to take a desk job rather than fight on the front line. Meanwhile his mother Grace is left to single-handedly care for Billy and his two sisters, flirty teenager Grace and cute little Sue. Initially Grace wants to send Billy and Sue away to Australia but quickly realises that she can't be separated from her children meaning that Billy gets to witness the war first hand. Billy's war involves he and his friends setting up a den in one of the houses that the bomb has destroyed and essentially running wild. Billy's life during the Blitz is a combination of swearing, pilfering and smashing stuff up whilst he also has childish dreams about what it would be like if he fought in the war. The real drama is provided by his family members as Grace thinks about lost opportunities and what her life would've been liked had she married another. Meanwhile, Dawn starts a romance with a Canadian soldier which soon results in her becoming pregnant at the age of sixteen. After a fire at their home, the Rowans are forced to move to the country home of Grace's parents where they enjoy a healthy diet of cricket and rowing. It is here that Billy bonds with his curmudgeonly Grandfather George who really doesn't like any of his daughters or the men that they've married.

I personally really enjoyed Hope and Glory during its first two thirds when we were given a child's eye view of the blitz. Young actor Sebastian Rice-Edwards has the perfect range of facial expressions to convey both the wonderment and horror that the war has brought. Philippe Rousselot's camera stays at Rice-Edward's height during the majority the film allowing us to see the world through his eyes. Billy's world is one of shrapnel-hunting and smashing things up but at the same time it's clear that he's missing his father. I did find Boorman's script to be slightly uneven and felt that the final third, set almost exclusively on the River Thames, to be a bit of a comedown after the excitement of war-torn London. In addition the final scene, in which his school is destroyed by a stray bomb, feels slightly anticlimactic and made the film feel flat as a result. But I can forgive Boorman these sins mainly as Hope and Glory is a film that is extremely personal to him and most of Billy's experiences are those first felt by Boorman during the Blitz. Hope and Glory is billed as a comedy however I would describe it more as a drama with comedic elements. One of the funniest parts of the film is when Billy's father brings back some German jam and the family are unsure whether or not to eat it. Similarly Dawn's wedding to her Canadian soldier has a lot of humour to it especially when you consider the ultimate fate of the bridegroom. Whilst Hope and Glory is, for the most part, a sedate film about what it means to be a family and missed opportunities that doesn't mean it wasn't enjoyable. It's crazy to think that this film is directed by the same man who brought us the extremely violent Deliverance as the two movies couldn't be more different. More than anything else this is a very British film, down to its patriotic title, and I have to say I'm more than a little surprised that the American academy nominated it for Best Picture in the first place.

Next time we remain in the early 20th century as we take a rather successful trip to Asia.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 255: The Great Outdoors

Thinking back over the majority of the last couple of films I've reviewed, most of them have complex plot structures. Obviously sprawling costume dramas such as Barry Lyndon and Nicholas and Alexandra have stories that stretch over numerous decades but even something like An Unmarried Woman has a lot going on story-wise. But for the next film on the list, Deliverance, a simple story is all that suffices and I feel the film is all the better for it. Deliverance follows four businessmen on a camping trip as one of their number, Lewis, is desperate to explore a valley before it and the surrounding town becomes one massive lake. Though Lewis and his friend Ed are experienced campers; their companions Drew and Bobby are not. Deliverance gives as an eerie feeling right away as the quartet arrive in the small town and encounter the locals, most of whom are portrayed as inbred yokels. Soon the four men are off on their canoes but on their first night camping, Lewis believes he hears a noise in the bushes. On the second day, Ed and Bobby get lost and end up coming ashore where they encounter two men. Anybody who's seen the film knows what graphic fate the two men inflict on the pair, especially Bobby, and this whole set piece ends with Louis killing one of the men with an arrow. From there the film presents a moral dilemma, namely should the men report the incident to the police or bury the body and forget what happened altogether. As the leader of the gang, Lewis eventually convinces the majority of the group to go along with his plan. But it's not smooth sailing back to dry land and our heroes face several more obstacles before they can return home.

Director John Boorman presents Deliverance in a fairly simplistic manner and it's all the better for it. A lot of the dialogue is fairly inconsequential and is used to demonstrate that these four men are quite ordinary. Indeed, even before we see their faces, we hear their voices as they plan the camping trip and let the audience know how they got to the small town. Boorman is also able to create the eerie tone of the film without going overboard and there are only one or two really big set pieces throughout the course of Deliverance. However, it's these set pieces that set in motion the moral quandary that's at the heart of Deliverance and I feel the film makes the audience question what they'd do in this situation. Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond excels at thrusting us head first into the action and I feel he really captured the volatile nature of the outdoors. Indeed most of Deliverance happens outside and it's this exposure to the elements that changes the four men forever. I was really compelled by the majority of Deliverance, but I feel the pace really lagged once the men made it onto dry land. The final scenes, in which they attempted to cover up what had happened during their trip, dragged on too long for my liking. Of the four central actors, I found Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty the most engaging as novice explorers Drew and Bobby. Beatty in particular was outstanding during the violent scene whilst Cox made Drew the group's moral leader. After watching his performances in both Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home, it was interesting to see Jon Voight play a down-to-Earth everyman. I feel Voight really took to the role of Ed and I found he was at home here equally as much as he was playing a more outlandish character. Due to the fact that he was a major box office star at the time, I feel Burt Reynolds was the biggest name in Deliverance. But to me he made Lewis quite a caricature and he was the character I was least interested in overall. Another memorable element of Deliverance is the duelling banjos scene which is uplifting early on but later takes on a sinister undertone every time the tune is subsequently played in the film. Ultimately I found Deliverance a film with a simple story that was well-filmed and well-acted and one that poses a moral dilemma that we can all relate to.

Next Time I watch the final two films of the decade, a double bill starring a famous screen double act.