Hope and Glory (1987)

I have to confess, that despite thirteen BAFTA nominations and five Oscar nominations, Hope & Glory baffled me. Not the story, it's a partially autobiographical tale focusing on director John Boorman's experiences in London during the Blitz as a young boy. And there are stretches of the film that focus on young Billy as he enjoys marauding amongst the wreckage of buildings with his friends, which are terrific fun, giving it a real feel of Bugsy Malone (1976) or something like War Of The Buttons (1994). The problem is when the focus shifts to his family, and especially the adults, the film switches into something that's laughably poor. I understand many will enjoy the family and neighbourhood spirit that anchors the film, and sure, I wasn't there to experience it, but it just has such a shoddy televisual sensibility about it, not helped by some truly dreadful acting, and some of the conversations between some of them are simply bizarre. It's also not helped by Billy's sister Dawn being a fantastically irritating presence, and towards the end, the film asks you to feel sympathy and affection for her, something which I absolutely failed to do. Hope & Glory is probably best seen on a Sunday afternoon, and I fully appreciate the importance of the subject matter and I'm not saying for a second that the film does it an injustice at all, but I'd be lying if I said I thought it was any good. Any people are queuing up to praise it, and have been doing so for years, leaving me slack-jawed and utterly baffled. Sorry. 4.0/10