My Boy Jack

[poliphilo]

I didn't have great hopes of last night's TV movie My Boy Jack. I didn't think it would tell me anything I wasn't already tired of hearing. And I was afraid it would be cruel and unfair to Rudyard Kipling-  a writer I love. I've read Wilfred Owen and the other war poets,  I'm even a little sick of them, I've seen all those movies about the horrors of trench warfare and I've heard the crack about lions led by donkeys so often I'm beginning to want to question its truth- but in the event this turned out to be just about the best drama I've ever seen about the First World War. We glimpsed the horrors and the military unpreparedness and the political hysteria but mainly it was a story about how one typical, atypical family- father, mother, daughter, son-  got torn apart.  We saw how they divided along lines of age and gender and how they annoyed and resented and betrayed and loved one another. It was beautifully written and beautifully acted. And, yes, Danny Radcliffe was in there- one of the ensemble, sharing the acting honours and proving- as he hardly needs to any longer- what a starry presence he is. I'm not often moved these days by what I see on screen- I'm too busy picking everything apart- but this moved me deeply.

Comments

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I was so glad they didn't make Kipling into a jingoistic sabre-rattler. Loved it, especially David Haig.

[saare-snowqueen.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. All the reviews I've rad have been very positive.

About "Jack"

[msjann65.livejournal.com]

Will it be released in the USA? Or at least on BBC, so that it might eventually end up on USA Television on the Public Broadcasting channel?
I'd like to see Radcliffe in another role. He was wonderful as Harry, but I know he has much greater range than that one role.
Here in the US there is the danger of an actor being "typed" as a certain character. In those cases, audiences will not accept the actor or actress in a different role.
It is sad that for such a supposedly "forward-thinking" country, many of us Americans allow ourselves to get stuck in ruts with little spirit of adventure.

[sovay]

I hope I will have the chance to see this; I heard about it and wanted to.