Film Reviews by EW

A disappointing film. No sense of a group of pilgrims making their way to Canterbury. Good settings in ancient buildings and apparently authentic costumes. Overdoes the bordy.

This could have been a brilliant film. Settings both in England and Italy were beautifully done with fine authentic costumes and period features. The masking of the sound by over-intrusive background music and background noise, eg at the main railway station, meant that it was often impossible to hear what the actors were saying. Many of the scenes were taken poor lighting conditions. A combination of these two factors meant that it was almost impossible to follow the story properly and understand the relationships of the different characters.

This powerful and moving film is a call to fight injustice, and should be viewed by as many people as possible.

This is a wonderful evocation of rural Provence in the late 1930's and early stages of the Second World War. Although the war touches the lives of the families involved the film is free from scenes of violence and destruction. On the surface it is highly paternalistic and shows the conventional prejudice against the unmarried mother in a traditional rural society. In the end love shines through, The love of the Well Digger father for his grandson overcomes all and his daughter is able to marry her lover with the approval of all concerned.

The scenery and costumes come together to set the scene perfectly. For those with a working knowledge of French the Provencal accent is most attractive, with the reassurance of subtitles available as a backup.

Most disappointing. Not often that we fail to watch a film all the way through. More like Alice in Wonderland than Tolstoy. May try another version as this should have been a wonderful film.

Handel's wonderful and moving music receives an extra dimension by this staging of his oratorio as an opera. Initially the transposition of Imperial Rome into modern America with soldiers in orange jump suits was a shock to the system. However this production is so well done that it carried conviction and proved thought provoking. We found that a second viewing was necessary to make this a fully worthwhile experience. We will be on the lookout to see if other companies stage this as an opera.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the book we were looking forward to seeing the film. Initially we were somewhat disappointed as the film strayed from the account in the book in several places. Once these differences were accepted ,plus the sometimes difficult to hear accents, this proved to be a worthwhile film to watch. The account of human endurance and ingenuity and striking scenery made this a worthwhile film to watch.

EW