Hurricane

Hurricane (David Blair, 2018) tells the story of the RAF’s 303 Squadron, the majority of which was Polish pilots fighting the German Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain in World War II. They were prodigiously successful in shooting down German planes, doing more than their fair share of the damage to Hitler’s plans to invade Britain.

The film, we are told at the beginning, is based on actual events, which makes some of what you see quite shocking. That is the way that these pilots were treated by some British pilots and the authorities in Poland after the war. The general consensus seemed to be that they, over time went from escaping the Nazis and then suffering the Soviets.

It was a well told story with decent performances from Iwan Rheon and Stefanie Martini. Ms Martini did well to show some of the experiences of women serving in the armed forces in WWII. It seems that, depressingly, women could play their part but some men would only let them do this on their terms.

I did worry some times, watching this, as it looked to as if it was a film that was filmed as economically as possible. There were lots of CGI used in the dog fight scenes, but the filmmakers just about got away with that. There were a few scenes with some interesting prosthetics for characters that had suffered from fire in the cockpit. At least they were shown in this film, Christopher Plummer’s character suffered burns damage in The Battle Of Britain (Guy Hamilton, 1969) but was not shown with his injuries, a chance missed.

What also can’t be ignored is how the film discusses the role of Poles, and foreigners in general, in Britain. The film was of course set in 1940, but context is provided by it being a a film made in 2018. It’s not unreasonable to draw parallels with the experience of foreign personnel in Britain during and after WWII and after Brexit. 56% of Britons wanted foreign personnel repatriated after WWII, such gratitude.

On the whole I enjoyed the film and I was caught up in the story. It was well told and was a fitting tribute to the brave personnel that took their part in winning freedom for us all.

Billy Liar

Billy Liar (John Schlesinger, 1963) is the engaging tale of Billy Fisher, wonderfully portrayed by Tom Courtenay. The film was produced by that triumvirate of British talent; Keith Waterhouse, John Schlesinger and Richard Rodney Bennett. Billy is a clerk at an Undertakers but dreams of being much more. We see his daydreams of being a victorious leader in the country in his mind, Ambrosia. He also has pretentions of writing for a comedian in London and leaving his Bradford home. He’s living with his long suffering mum and dad, and his grandmother. He has a dark secret in his wardrobe of 200 calendars that he was supposed to have posted for his employer last Christmas. He also has a very complicated love life. All of this is further complicated by him being economical with the truth. 

The film catches England in that crux of change when World War Two bomb sites were being built upon and those buildings that had survived the war were being demolished for progress. It was also the cusp of that time when teenagers and young people were being invented; going to coffee houses, dances, riding motorbikes and talking back to their parents.

The film as well is like a celebration of British acting talent with not only Tom Courtenay nay, but also Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Rodney Bewes, Leonard Rossiter, Mona Washbourn and Helen Fraser. In that as well it links the past with the future, wonderful stuff.

BlacKKKlansman

BlacKKKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018)

I can’t say if it’s the film of the year but it’s one of them. This is the story of how a black police officer, Ron Stallworth, from Colorado Springs infiltrated the KKK, or the organisation, as they call it, in the early 1970s. What Spike Lee does though is makes it relevant to today’s America. The shame of course is that it’s relevant to today’s America. The shame is that it’s the President that has made this relevant to today’s America. The wonderful thing is that Spike Lee can concoct a wonderful narrative, he can build drama, he can get great performances from his actors. It’s not just a wake up call for us all, it’s a great film as well.

The beauty of this film, as should happen with good fiction, is variety of potential conflict and the uneasy interaction between a number of characters. So it’s not just about Ron’s interaction with the KKK. It’s also about his interaction with the black students organisations at the local college. His burgeoning relationship with Patrice, the organiser of one of the organisations. His interaction with other officers in the Colorado Sprngs Police Department. Here, there’s one officer Philip who is Jewish and the film explores his conflicts that arise from this story.

It would be easy to portray the KKK as buffoons and leave it there. But what happens is that we see what a menace they can be and what their intent is as well. Chillingly we hear and see the efforts the Grand Wizard, David Duke, made so that the Klan would become a main stream political organisation. A pressure group that would exert influence on main stream America. All of this at the same time as being a deeply racist and prejudicial organisation.