Fortunes of War
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Movie Reviews of Fortunes of War
Movie Review: "The fortunes of war flow this way and that"
Summary: 4 Stars
The BBC's 1987 seven-part miniseries based on Olivia Manning's BALKAN TRILOGY and LEVANT TRILOGY were the first pairing of Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson (who would soon wed and become each very famous internationally in his and her own right), and they've never been better as Guy and Harriet Pringle, an academic couple trapped "on the wrong side of Europe" during the early years of World War II. In Bucharest, for Guy's first job teaching English as a married man, the Pringles find themselves increasingly isolated, first by the movements of the Rumanian fascists in league with Hitler (the Iron Guard), and then by the invading German army; they become transplanted first to Athens and then to Cairo as the war continues, along with a changing group of other involuntary English exiles. The miniseries, like the books it is base on, is tremendously episodic, and sometimes you lose track of who's who in Guy's and Harriet's circle given the enormous cast of characters. Whereas the Manning novels (like that other great extensive roman a clef that covers the same period, Anthony Powell's DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME) allow the characters to be joined by the sense of the ebb and flow of the author's strong prose style, here many of the episodes seem highly disjointed. Yet many of the moments within have been unforgettable to me for more than twenty years: the Pringles finding to their horror at a performance at the Bucharest Opera that the German influence has replaced "Rigoletto" with "Tannhauser"; the final result in Cairo of Professor Lord Pinkrose's long-deferred lecture on Byron; the consequences when the likable but impossible sponger Prince Yakimov (Ronald Pickup, in a classic performance) indulges in a cigarette during an Athens air-raid; the strained humiliated goodbye of a Syrian who has shown Harriet the sights in Damascus when she leaves him to run off with her countrymen.
The effect of the production is helped tremendously not only by the expensive sets and costumes (the BCC wanted to compete with the success of Granada Television's recent expensive miniseries adaptations of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED and THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, and spared little) and by the terrific acting. Branagh has never been more charming as the irrepressible and platonically promiscuous Guy, a Marxist English teacher who makes everyone feel as if he's the most important person in the room, and Thompson has one of her signature roles as the lonely, long-suffering Harriet. One can genuinely fault the series for presenting World War II mostly as a bothersome nuisance to bourgeois, well-educated Englishmen; yet as so many novelists and filmmakers of the twentieth century were aware, few things have more appeal to audiences than young people in love separated and displaced by war.
Movie Review: "Have you ever seen the light from heaven?"
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a story of a young couple's marriage as they are tossed around by the advancing war. In this world, no one is safe. Not the people who fight and not the people who flight.
The pace of the movie was so slow that I would have stopped watching if it wasn't for Emma Thompson. I'm madly in love with her mind. She has more intelligence about human suffering and human relations than I can comprehend, so any role she is in makes my head try to keep up. And the chance to see her for hours, even when she is silent, is a delight. So young, so much good would later come from her. Her genius is evident in her youth in this feature. Of her character it is said, "You are an unusual lady. You have a mind of your own." And that is certainly true of Emma.
The movie is about living with war moving all around us. The story discusses the casualties of war. War kills, but not just people. It kills dreams. It paralyzes people. In the movie, war is a Rorschach test, not only revealing character, but also testing and refining it.
I don't know if I liked the last few episodes more because they were better, or if I'd learn to trust the author by then (probably a little of both).
On a side note, if the most moving "realization of death" scene in movie history is the mother falling on the porch when the men are driving up to tell her 3 of her sons have died in "Saving Private Ryan", then the worst "realization of life" scene is Kenneth Brannagh's reuniting scene with Harriet, poor both in acting and in film direction (probably intentional, but aggravating nonetheless).
If you had asked me halfway through the series or halfway through writing this review, how many stars? I would have said, "3 stars." But the mini-series is wiser than me, so I must give it "4 stars." Sometimes some of life's greatest joys are tickling another person's feet.
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Movie Review: great but flawed
Summary: 4 Stars
What great news that this has arrived on DVD! A wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully photographed BBC adaptation of of the Olivia Manning "Balkan" and "Levant" trilogies. And therein lies the only flaw. The second of the trilogies was written decades after the first (which was contemporaneous to the events in that trilogy). As a result, the second half of the mini-series strikes a different (rather idealised, almost mystical) tone compared to the first half, which captures the dramas and foibles of the characters in a more realistic fashion. But having said that, this is a production not to be missed. Branagh, Thompson and especially Ronald Pickup as Prince Yakimov are wonderful. What a treat to see it again!
Movie Review: An early example of Emma Thompson's acting.
Summary: 4 Stars
This was intially a series on the BBC in the 1980's.
It is based on Olivier Manning's novel, The Balkan Trilogy.
It tells the story of a dissapearing world form the point of view of a young Married English couple living in Greece and having to escape back to England through Europe as the Nazi's advance. Manning's novel is excellent and I am not intending to reveal the plot any further since I recommend you read the book.
This is not a bad working albeit on a tight budget, Thompson shows the early signs of her great talent but Brannagh is not so good and never quite manages (here or elsewhere) to live up to his former wife's ability.
Movie Review: Engaging and enlightening perspective on life during wartime
Summary: 4 Stars
This is one of the most underappreciated films which delves successfully into the personal side of life during wartime. Life, business, and education goes on even though the world is trying to kill itself. Love is found and lost, jobs come and go, and life goes on-even as the bombs fall. Branagh and Thomson are as always endearing as much for their flaws as for their charms. The scenery and cinematography is simply spectacular. This is in many way reminiscent of The English Patient, while not as powerful or brilliant, still very enjoyable, and highly recomended.