16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Slow Moving Critique of the British Class System and Army, August 15, 2003
This review is from: How Many Miles to Babylon [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film is a critical view of the British class system dressed up as a First World War story. A young member of the Protestant Anglo-Irish landed gentry forms a friendship with a poor Irish Catholic from the neighboring village. The Protestant, named Alexander, is warned by his mother to break off the friendship because it is simply not done. When Britain enters the First World War, Alexander's father, who supports Home Rule and is sympathetic to the Irish nationalists opposes his son's joining the army saying that it is not Ireland's fight, but his aristocratic English mother encourages it. Alexander's friend, Jeremiah also joins up, much to Alexander's surprise since he knows that Jeremiah is an extreme Irish nationalist, but it turns out that he has ulterior motives. In the end, they are sent to the front in France. Alexander, coming from a "good family" is made an officer, but Jeremiah is just a private. In spite of the rules against fraternization, the two remain good friends. This relationship leads to a double tragedy for the two men. I have two problems with the film, firstly, the viewer should have at least some knowledge of the 19th century struggle for Irish Home Rule since it is an important component of the story. The second, is that Alexander's commanding officer is made into some sort of fiend because he opposes the fraternization between the two men. Alexander says that "he treats men like cattle", but we are not shown any evidence of this, and in fact, his opposition to the conduct of the two men is well founded. The writers of this story decided to throw in anti-military jibes in addition to their attacks on the British society of the time in question.
Having said this, the film has some suberb acting, including Sian Phillips (Livia from "I, Claudius") who plays Alexander's mother. Thus, in spite of its flaws, the viewer does get a feel for the relationship between the English and Irish and the unique problems of the Protestant Anglo-Irish society of a hundred years ago.
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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
How Many Miles to Babylon ? the film, June 1, 2009
This review is from: How Many Miles to Babylon [VHS] (VHS Tape)
A little disappointed :
The actors are convincing in their roles, no doubt about that.
But having read the book, the film was exactly what I expected to see, word after word, and its tempo was too slow, and some scenes that were significant in the book ended very flat. To see once but not more than once, not too long but boring...little about Ireland (setting of part I of the book by Jennifer Johnston), very little about WWI (setting of part II of the book).
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