***/**** (3.5 stars)
In the spring of 1914, four young people spent their holidays in the scenic landscape of Derbyshire: Vera Brittain, her brother, Edward, and his two friends, Victor Richardson and Roland Leighton. Mere months later their lives would be torn apart by the First World War...
It's not often you get a war story shown from a woman's perspective, let alone a First World War tale, so saturated is that period by brilliant male writers. However, when Vera Brittain's novel Testament of Youth was published, it became the voice of a generation. Detailing the plights of the women who had to stay at home, waiting for news of loved ones, whilst also examining how women became involved in the war effort, it highlighted a side of war that hadn't been seen before.
In terms of translating Brittain's text from book to screen, director James Kent does a solid job, capturing the despair of women who could only look on from the side lines as their brothers, husbands and friends went off to war. This is largely thanks to Alicia Vikander's magnetic performance as Vera herself, being both headstrong and vulnerable at the same time. At times, the camera lingers on Vikander's face, and we are able to immerse ourselves in the strength of the emotion she is portraying in that particular moment. It's a heart breaking character arch, from determined and stubborn Oxford applicant to a tired and drained war nurse on the front line. Vikander is supported by an equally impressive young cast, including Kit Harrington as lover interest, Roland Leighton, and Taron Egerton as her brother, Edward. There is a real connection between Harrington and Vikander when they are on screen together, and indeed their snatched moments together, from flirtation through to a heartbreaking scene on the coast, are one of the main strengths of the film. Indeed, it seems that the director and producers were more at ease making a film about two young people falling in love than a war film.
It's not that war element of the film isn't done competently or without the utmost respect for the fallen, it just doesn't add anything new to the genre. The scenes of mutilated, dying men laying on beds in stuffed wards will always be shocking, but we have seen these images numerous times now. This part of the film becomes a very methodical telling, whereas the 'wooing scenes' contain flash blacks, jumps and close ups, and at times even feels rushed compared with the first section of the film with the four young people together. It's not that the film is emotionally empty in any way, it just falls into the same formulaic structure. Indeed, some of the scene pack an enormous emotional punch that left me feeling a little winded even though I knew what was going to happen, and again this is down to Vikander's pitch-perfect performance.
Refreshing for it's portrayal of a female voice amidst the numerous versions depicting life on the front line, Testament of Youth is an admirable translation of Brittain's traumatic war experience. Sustained by the cast's excellent performances, led by Alicia Vikander in the main role, it cannot rid itself of the clichés of other war films, and yet still packs an emotional clout that won't leave a dry eye in the house.
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