Island at War
by Peter Lydon, Thaddeus O'Sullivan
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Julia Ford, Owen Teale, Philip Glenister, Saskia Reeves, Sean WardDirector: Peter Lydon, Thaddeus O'Sullivan
Brand: Acorn Media
Cinematographer: David Higgs
Editor: Edward Mansell
Producer: Andy Harries
Producer: John Rushton
Producer: Sita Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Published), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; Spanish (Published)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 398 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Acorn Media
Movie Reviews of Island at War
Movie Review: Exhibit A For Why The British Make Better TV Than Americans Do
Summary: 5 Stars
Island At War sits among the top of the many films that have recently appeared on the subject of the Second World War. Its setting, a fictional channel island called St. Gregory, lies much closer to France than to the British mainland, yet it and the other channel islands are totally British in sympathy, language, and political affiliation. In 1940, St. Gregory is portrayed as being captured by a German expeditionary force, as are the other channel islands, and the proudly British citizens there face an occupation by foreign hostiles. While their countrymen wage brave resistance to the German onslaught, those living on the islands must, willingly or not, submit to their foes. Presenting an interesting example of how a German occupation of the United Kingdom might have been carried out had Operation Sea Lion successfully achieved an undertaking that has otherwise proven impossible since 1066, that of defeating the British at war on their home soil, Island At War makes for the sort of motion picture that quickly and deeply draws in an intelligent viewer.
What makes this 6 ½ hour film so engrossing is not only the realism of its hypothetical answer to the question of how a German occupation of Britain would very probably have gone (stifling but much more respectful than German occupations elsewhere) but it is the depth of the characters presented. Where in other hands this could easily have disintegrated into caricatures of evil, jackbooted Nazis inhumanly repressing a purely good English population, instead we are challenged to see the humanity of both sides. Though often harshly restrictive and almost always haughtily loyal to the cause for which they fight, members of the German occupying force at times act with genuine decency toward the people of St. Gregory. Conversely, some of the locals on the island conduct themselves in ways that are less than honorable. There is also the matter of fraternization. We look on as interaction with an enemy for profit, personal gain, and in some instances out of a true sense of affection becomes increasingly the norm. A local girl reluctantly falls in love with a soft-spoken Luftwaffe navigator. A German officer offers a talented local girl a chance to sing in a soldier's cabaret, and later defends her against an attack by drunken townsmen. A bitter storekeeper, whose husband's death in an air raid marked the island's sole casualty during the invasion, begins a highly profitable black market goods partnership with a well-connected German. The island's commandant, Baron von Rheingarten, while a proud German officer, is by no means a thuggish Nazi yes-man, and his multi-layered interaction with the Dorr family, St. Gregory's politically-connected gentry, evolves from initial rivalry to his later showing the deepest act of magnanimity of the entire film. It is all much more of an affront to the convenient black and white wartime morality that is the standard when portraying a story set in this time and place.
Island At War is a truly fine production start to finish that will prove as appealing to a lover of good television as it will to any open-minded individual with an interest in the events of the Second World War.
Summary of Island at War
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