The
story starts on September 3rd 1939 in England, during this day,
Germany declared war against England. It tells the story of an English family
which is going to evolve all along the film. As the two countries are at war,
there are frequently bombings from German planes on London and its outskirts
where the family lives. This film, based on the Second World War is shown
through the innocent eyes of a kid, but it conveys a really good analyse of the
hard moments they had.
We first come across a kid called
Billy, the story is told by him, he is about nine years old and he attends
school. This little boy is the junior of the family, he is adventurous and has
a lot of imagination. His two sisters are Dawn, the oldest and Sue, a tiny and
shy six years old girl. Dawn is sixteen, she is a chicky girl, this war makes
her growing up very fast, she realises that life is a question of hope so she
decides to enjoy the life as much as possible. She has a boyfriend; Bruce who
is a young determined Canadian soldier. He will learn to her life pleasure such
as dancing ; they love each other but their story appears more complicated than
expected when he goes to war.
Clive is
the three children’s father and her wife is Grace. This respectful man is a
voluntary so he decided to take part in the war as a writer for his country,
that certainly shows he is patriotic, even if he thinks that he isn’t a good
father he is always enthusiastic towards his family, he keeps a real complicity
with his son Billy when they play cricket. Grace is about thirty five years
old, she is a real mother-hen, she has a very important role in the story in
the way that she is courageous, she has to take care of the three children,
alone and wake up at least once per night to take refuge in the dark cold
shelter with her kids. Molly is Grace’s sister, she married Mac, a very
sympathetic gentleman, he will greatly help Grace during the hard moment she
spends. He has a discussion with her when he takes the family to the beach and
we discover that they have loved each other secretly, but nothing happened
really, only thoughts. The last character, the grand father is an original
person who is a jolly good fellow, he has a passion; women. This man will host
Grace, Dawn, Billy and Sue in his country house because their house had burnt.
I can thoroughly recommend this
movie as it’s very well acted by the characters, they were really convincing
and they looks as if they wanted to convey a message, to make people aware of
the life during World War II . We feel a real attachment for Billy the kid who
acts marvellously. The director of the film has greatly conveyed a touch of
humour during the whole film which give softness to the story. Quite a lot of
scene will surely make people laugh... In addition, the grandfather has a funny
role through his usual bad mood. Furthermore the movie portrays very well the
way of living of a typical English family in the years 1940’s.
According to me, it is well worth seeing this
movie insofar as it’s the best way to learn real facts having a good moment at
the same time. This story is told considering all the events and the humour
which is used is really welcomed. To my mind, it’s one of the best old movie I
have never seen.
Edouard Deniau