maurice-714-270860 Reviews

A Quiet Passion (2016)

Very disappointing

[1/10 · 12 February 2019]

I knew very little about Emily Dickinson before watching this film, but I looked her up to find out a little more. She was described as quiet, unassuming and educated, but to me she came across as just the opposite.

I can only describe the film as boring, the subject herself as obnoxious, her family quite uninteresting and her poetry miserable. I can't remember any other film which to me had so few redeeming features!

Swallows and Amazons (2016)

Not Swallows and Amazons as we knew it!

[5/10 · 25 September 2016]

Unlike most reviewers, I thought this remake was a travesty, a tragedy, anything you care to call it. For one of a family brought up on Arthur Ramsome, this version is so totally wrong. What was a simple story of a bunch of 'decent' young 1930s children on holiday in the Lake District, trusted by their parents to sail the lake and camp on an island on their own, has been turned into something which may well amuse and entertain the children of today, but nobody surely who has read the books.

A smoking Scotswoman for a mother, a grumpy old woman for the farmer's wife, a spy in Russia for Captain Flint, a man being chased on a train, a child proffering a gun, a family who argue and shout at each other, knives, guns, and a fight aboard a seaplane - no, this isn't Swallows and Amazons.

The scenery is beautiful as you'd expect and I thought the original story quite sufficient for even today's children, so why change it?

Quite fun if you don't know the story, but rubbish if you do!

Resistance (2011)

A gentle, beautiful and sensitive anti-war film

[8/10 · 17 June 2013]

Having read and enjoyed the novel I decided to rent this movie, but while awaiting delivery I read all the reviews I could find. A very high proportion of these user reviews, both on IMDb and elsewhere, described a film that was totally boring, a complete waste of time, had nothing to do with resistance and was generally pointless.

All I can say in reply to these reviews is that films about war are not necessarily about violence, gunfire and cruelty. Put briefly, this film is a gentle story set in a beautiful Welsh valley, a tale of frightened farmer's wives left mysteriously without their menfolk, a group of German soldiers traumatised by war, an expression of human feeling and resistance to war in many and varied ways. If this doesn't appeal to you, then watch Rambo! If, however, you are a sensitive soul with a belief in human goodness, then watch this film and enjoy it! My only gripe is that I found the dialogue a little hard to follow - and there are no subtitles. Having said that, I accepted this difficulty and found that it didn't really affect my pleasure - the film doesn't rely heavily on dialogue. All-in-all a most enjoyable film and one that I will watch again - it certainly helped to hear the director's commentary on the DVD.