Wednesday, December 13, 2017

War Requiem (1989)


Movie Visions
Directed by Derek Jarman
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(DVD, Kino)

Laurence Olivier, in his final film appearance, plays an elderly soldier who remembers the horrors of WWI. He recites some brief lines of poetry by Wilfrid Owen at the beginning, but the remainder of the film features the complete work by Benjamin Britten with no dialogue or sound effects overlaid. Instead, director Jarman marries the images to the lyrics, incorporating scenes of young men sent off to war. Tilda Swinton is one of many nurses who tend to their wounds, but suffers emotional wounds of her own. Jarman also uses documentary footage of various wars and conflicts. It's an intensely cinematic experience, perhaps not as emotionally moving as it should have been, but still cathartic, timeless.

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