My Boy Jack
by Brian Kirk
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carey Mulligan, Daniel Radcliffe, David Haig, Julian Wadham, Kim CattrallDirector: Brian Kirk
Brand: Warner Brothers
Writer: David Haig
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: BBC Worldwide
Product features:
- Its 1915 and World War I has been declared. Aged only 17, Kiplings son, like most of his generation, is swept up in the enthusiasm to fight the Germans, a mood stoked vigorously by his father. Jack is cripplingly short sighted and the army has rejected him twice, rendering him too myopic even for an army suffering thousands of casualties a week and desperate for recruits. Yet Rudyard is undeterred
Movie Reviews of My Boy Jack
Movie Review: "Not this tide, nor any tide"
Summary: 5 Stars
MY BOY JACK (2007-2008), first put on as a play, written/produced by and starring the magnificent David Haig ("The Thin Blue Line") as Rudyard Kipling, was a long-anticipated revelation. I became interested in this because Daniel Radcliffe was in it (as Kipling's son John a/k/a Jack) - the earliest project he took on while filming HARRY POTTER.
Haig's account is that he became interested in the whole project because of his startling resemblance to Kipling - and his father's personality resembling Kipling's also. Though he began listing about as early as 1985, finding no one to write for him, he finally mounted his play. The end result is this excellent and unsentimental film.
As Haig has stated, it is a film about war: how one single casualty involves a whole world of people, and here, how Kipling blamed himself for letting his son go off to the trenches of WWI. The film follows mainly along two lines, Rudyard's near-jingoist support of the war and Jack's anxiety to get away from home. Naturally, Jack wants to go into the Royal Navy but his near-sightedness stops him cold.
Radcliffe has admitted that we do not know exactly what transpired with the Kiplings in real life; the film is spectacular in its skill, its direction and the acting. Kim Cattrall, as Rudyard's American wife Carrie, is a revelation here. I haven't enjoyed her so much before. The scenes in the trenches are at once heart wrenching and almost sweet (the way all are concerned about one another). The fear, felt by all, is as palpable as the lighting.
It was especially grand to see King George V (Julian Wadham, who greatly resembles the real king in appearance and voice) in his role as pal to Kipling, who visits him twice in the film. The rank and file of the Irish battalion are all competent and moving to see. The noises of war got to me but not at the expense of the drama, and that shows the greatness of this work.
While Haig thought through the state of Kipling and his relation to war, Radcliffe thought about Jack and his relationship with the family. They filmed the goodbye scene - the last scene Radcliffe shot - at the Kipling home. Radcliffe shuddered as he stood where the real John Kipling stood saying goodbye to his father, and saw John's initials, which John had carved into the archway.
These details may bore a bit, but not for me: they are the bones and marrow of any story. It is tough for me to pay any attention to war films and I do not undertake viewing lightly. Haig is a master for bringing this to life as he has done.
(As an added treat, I suggest fans of this and David Haig's overall work get their hands on the book, "My Boy Jack?" by Tonie and Valmai Holt. Jack's body was never found, in spite of Kipling's tireless efforts which are sadly not addressed in the film.
A few years back the British government claimed it had identified both his grave and his remains. Jack vanished in action aged 18, and the accounts of what happened are conflicting - hence Radcliffe's remark that "we do not know exactly what happened". The Holts' book addresses these and the doubts about Jack Kipling; it really makes the viewer wonder what can have happened to him.)
This is an excellent, not-to-be-missed classic. I'm only sorry Haig had to do it as tv film, ending up in America on Masterpiece Theater and not as a major motion picture. These gems too often do not get made at all, or end up in the backwaters of tv. Especially in this case, I'm getting damned tired of that.
Summary of My Boy Jack
MY BOY JACK - DVD MovieAs affecting as it is thought-provoking, ITV's My Boy Jack illustrates the dangers of unbridled patriotism. To grow up the child of a famous author is burden enough, but when the boy must embody the beliefs of the man, the consequences can be devastating. In the case of John "Jack" Kipling (Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe in his most mature role to date), 17-year-old son of Rudyard Kipling (Four Weddings and a Funeral's David Haig), his father's passion for King and Country leads to a preventable tragedy. Based on Haig's play, the proceedings begin in 1914, prior to the outbreak of World War II. Jack attempts to join the army and the navy, but both reject him due to severe shortsightedness, so Kipling Sr. pulls strings to place him with the Irish Guards. Jack's sister, Elsie (Bleak House's Carey Mulligan), and American-born mother, Caroline (a brunette Kim Cattrall), would rather he serve the war effort at home. Through hard work and determination, Jack scales the ranks from private to lieutenant, but goes missing in France, and many months pass before the family solves the mystery of his disappearance. In the end, My Boy Jack, which aired in England on Remembrance Day, concerns itself more with paying tribute than apportioning blame, and Haig skillfully portrays Kipling's guilt in putting his son in harm?s way and pride in a brave soldier who "played his part properly." Special features include interviews and deleted scenes. Parental advisory suggested due to situation-appropriate language and teen smoking. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
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