A fascinating idea from Humphrey Jennings, to take a baby boy as representative of a nation soon to face massive decisions, is scuppered by the misguided choice of E.M. Forster as author of the narration.
Young Timothy proved to be incapable of holding the interest throughout a fairly long film, so other representatives were drafted in: a miner, a farmer, a train driver and a fighter pilot, to create an overwhelmingly masculine vision.
But not heroic. Forster's prose might have made a brilliant essay, but his Bloomsbury condescension and contempt for his fellow Britons, particularly the bourgeoisie and the working class, seems glaring in the democratic medium of film. He seems to regret that these very Britons being celebrated were on the verge of winning the war - consistent with his pessimistic statement in 'Two Cheers for Democracy' that "if fascism wins we are done for, and that we must become fascist to win."
The spectacularly downbeat section where the terrible defeat at Arnhem is juxtaposed with Myra Hess playing Beethoven's Appassionata sums up Forster's attitude. His internationalism may seem far-sighted and principled from a distance, but was this a message that needed to be drummed so unsubtly into his audience (many of whom would have been bereaved in battles such as this) at this particular time? "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country", as he famously remarked in 'Two Cheers'. Well, if I was faced with such a difficult choice, I hope I would be less dogmatic about it than E.M.
The narration, contrary to the opinion of most of the other reviews, is terribly ill-judged. Declaimed in a gloomy monotone by Michael Redgrave, the viewer is left with the impression of moral equivalence between the allies and the Nazis. The hope represented by Timothy, that the form of the film forces Forster however reluctantly, to concede, is a slender thing indeed.
Young Timothy proved to be incapable of holding the interest throughout a fairly long film, so other representatives were drafted in: a miner, a farmer, a train driver and a fighter pilot, to create an overwhelmingly masculine vision.
But not heroic. Forster's prose might have made a brilliant essay, but his Bloomsbury condescension and contempt for his fellow Britons, particularly the bourgeoisie and the working class, seems glaring in the democratic medium of film. He seems to regret that these very Britons being celebrated were on the verge of winning the war - consistent with his pessimistic statement in 'Two Cheers for Democracy' that "if fascism wins we are done for, and that we must become fascist to win."
The spectacularly downbeat section where the terrible defeat at Arnhem is juxtaposed with Myra Hess playing Beethoven's Appassionata sums up Forster's attitude. His internationalism may seem far-sighted and principled from a distance, but was this a message that needed to be drummed so unsubtly into his audience (many of whom would have been bereaved in battles such as this) at this particular time? "If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country", as he famously remarked in 'Two Cheers'. Well, if I was faced with such a difficult choice, I hope I would be less dogmatic about it than E.M.
The narration, contrary to the opinion of most of the other reviews, is terribly ill-judged. Declaimed in a gloomy monotone by Michael Redgrave, the viewer is left with the impression of moral equivalence between the allies and the Nazis. The hope represented by Timothy, that the form of the film forces Forster however reluctantly, to concede, is a slender thing indeed.