Customer Reviews

The War Bride [Region 2]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Quick Brief Background History - War Brides WWI & WWII

Wartime Britain was host to ten of thousands of allied serviceman lonely and far from home. Many of the young women living around the military camps were swept off their feet by the young visitors romance blossomed and marriages were hastily arranged before the new husbands were posted away to war. More than one hundred thousand British war brides and large numbers of children were given berths on war-time troop transports and sailed the treacherous seas to their new lives their husband's homeland waiting in hope to be together once again. Most were bound for Canada, others to the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Large groups of European women were also transported through Britain and their numbers swell the total departure figures.

Film - The War Bride - London 1941

London, most men were away at war it was the height of the Blitz, things weren't looking so good, spirits needed to be raised high, Lily (Anna Friel) and friends were looking to have fun. There had been a buzz of gossip that allied serviceman were in town, the girls rally, put on their glad rags for dancing to meet some new men. At the war dance Lily meets a Canadian soldier on leave one Charlie Travis (Aden Young) they quickly fall madly in love and with an urgency of being literally under the gun they get married before the week is out, Charlie is soon thereafter called back to the front, Lily now thinks she's also pregnant.

Two Years later, Lily has only seen her husband for thirteen days over the entire course of their marriage. She then receives word from the Canadian Embassy that she and her baby daughter are to live in Canada to wait for her husband's return. Lily's quiet sold on the idea as Charlie had told her about his place the Ranch in Canada, this also means living with her Canadian in-laws.

Remote, rural Spring Hill, Alberta, Canada isn't very welcoming; Lily turns up in her bright red lipstick matching red hat and lots of London cockney spirit, it doesn't sit well with the mother in-law Betty (Brenda Ficker) as she looks in disbelief at what her son has married and is more concerned that she won't be getting Charlie's pay check as this now goes to his new wife. Charlie's crippled sister Sylvia (Molly Parker) finds Lily's brash manner too forward for their simple life. Lily realizes she may have just swapped one horrendous existence for another as she struggles to survive with the in-laws on a dilapidated farm in the bleak wildness, she feels so alone, what has Charlie landed her in and when will he be coming home.

My Overview

This is such a lovely Film to watch. I would like to say at this point the film moves very quickly through London and it's Blitz some may feel this seems a little rushed to begin with, but this film was only done on a small budget and the point of the film is about the new life for this war bride after London, in Canada things are more drawn out which really make up for it.

Wonderful Casting, all the main characters in this film show their own wounds from this war and I mean shown from what's inside their insecurities, resentments, perceived slights or damaged self-esteem and how people in life tread careful around things simmering, restraining themselves, until a sudden point of boiling over, this is so well acted from all the cast. I also loved the many little touches to this film which made it special, like passed down stories you may have heard from your own grandparents, such as huddling together on a dance floor during a Blitz as the party continues in whispers or a wedding dress made from a table cloth due to lack of money or material just the simple touches.

It's funny, happy, sad, endearing, touching, a fascinating smart and involving story, it's a film about Hope. Working this well, Screenwriter Angela Workman loosely based her script on her own mother's life. The wonderful scenery and 1940's costumes, fabulous music from this era all add to make it great. The Cast were all very strong in this, Anna Friel who I have seen growing through the years in great productions on UK TV, this preformance on film I believe is one of her best.

Extra Information - Language Used

Lily and friends are from London's East End, so the accent used by them all would be English Cockney. Only a few London English Cockney slang words are used in passing and explained in this Film.

Great Film Recommended.

Andrea Bowhill

This is one of the best movies made about the displaced brides during the war HOWEVER it is sorely misrepresented as being CLOSED_CAPTIONED when it is NOT!!! It is very difficult to understand some of the English dialogue and takes away from the enjoyment of the film. I was stupid enough to buy two of these dvd"s hoping to get ONE that was closed captioned!! The Movie is fantastic however!!!

This London war brides's optimism is tested when her Canadian soldier husband sends her to live with his mother and sister on a ranch in Alberta. He said he owned 'a lot of land', but she was hardly prepared for the great stretches of the prairie, the cold of the outhouse in winter, or the hostility of his family. Her irrepressible spirit helps them cope with some significant issues as they move toward becoming a real family. Heartland awarded this movie top prize of its 2002 (?) Festival as a movie that exemplified 'the positive power of the human spirit'.

This is a great movie but I have to agree that the story sometimes is hard to understand because of the English accent. Also the end was disappointing as we just didn't understand what transpired at all. That's why the 3 stars instead of five.
Good though.

This movie was a wonderful love story but also gave you a good feel for what it was like during the war and the hardships they faced. How they tried to live a normal life in difficult times and raise families. I purchased the movie to send on to my mother who lived during that period and would enjoy reliving the part about fashions, dances and the love of good friends that got them thru that period. It brought back that youthful time for her and she loved it!!

The War Bride takes place in England circa the middle of WWII and in Canada. Two Canadian soldiers woo some seamstresses and marry them quickly, offereing them a way to escape war-torn England by emigrating to Canada. Many years elaspse, and the fate of each girl takes a different turn before being reunited with their new husbands.

One soldier misrepesents his wealth and family such that the wife arrives unwelcome in a remote and unfriendly rural farm. This story details her efforts to adjust to this new way of life and try to fit in. She is a compelling character and the acting is excellent.

A well done tale and worth seeing.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching "War Bride." Having been raised during the war, I remember many of the aspects depicted in this film--and for the most part--they were quite authentic.
The story takes unexepected turns and the acting is very good. Charlie's reaction to his war service was great and extremely believeable. His spunky bride kept our attention and helped move along an otherwise sad situation which, in fact, was suffered by hundreds of thousands of average folks during the second world war.
I am buying this film for my children so they will see what life was like at a time when things were so very different from today.
Kudos to those who record a time when life was tough, exciting, romantic and horrific all at the same time.

This film provides another perspective on the WWII experience. After some London scenes explaining how protagonist Lily came to be married to a Canadian soldier, the story focuses on her experiences with her husband's family in the great plains of Canada. She is a stranger in a strange land seeking to hold on to a sense of self in the face of a culture far different from her own. Her in-laws are not welcoming and she considers returning to England, but ultimately the three women forge a relationship. Both Lily and her in-laws make compromises, with Lily's natural joy of love and survivor mentality leading the way. Husband Charlie's return from war highlighted the difficulty of many returning vets--haunted by their memories. His estrangement from family shows some resolution with a burst of emotion and Lily's realization that she must comfort him through his pain. Unfortunately, the last vignettes seem out of character. The couple is shown behaving playfully on a water tower while the mother buries a keepsake box at her husband's grave. Are the characters supposedly burying the past? What we know of war trauma is that it does not bury; it merely retreats from constant presence. Otherwise, the film's characters ring true and show the complex dynamics of family systems. The film provides a relatively unknown view of wartime Canada, the evacuation and placement of war brides, and the difficulties of building relationships between those of different cultures--especially in the absence of the shared loved one.

This film isn't a mystery but is done to the level of the performances in mysteries such as Foyle's War, so if you enjoy those you would probably enjoy this. Very glad to see a bit more about the experience of WWII at home, showing some dramatized historical facts about WWII wives, and especially dealing with Canada. A very good cast, but I am baffled that Amazon's initial screen at the top doesn't list Friel as the major character for this movie. She handles the role and lines so intuitively. The key characters each held my interest, which says a lot about the actors' individual skills and experience, especially in carefully not overplaying their roles. A minor drawback was that some of the women's hairstyles, primarily Anna's, looked pretty artificial, enough that it distracted a bit from the movie. I'm more than happy with the movie, and hope to see more from Ms. Friel, especially if she is picky enough to get such roles.

This is a genuinely good movie also released under the British title 'War Bride'. You can go to that alternative Amazon title and see further reviews; also, I believe you can purchase it cheaper under the 'Love and War' title.

It stars one of my favorite Brit actors, Anna Friel, whom we really liked also in the adaptation of Dicken's 'Our Mutual Friend'. Here she portrays a young woman caught in the London bombings of WWII, who falls in love with a Canadian soldier just before he's to be deployed to the front. It's practically love at first sight for they barely have a few days together and end up marrying each other before he's gone.

She has their baby, and along with a friend is sent, as thousands did during the war, to Canada as a 'war bride'. She travels to her husband's isolated, Alberta dirt farm, and meets, and is rejected by, his impoverished and bitter family. Through thick and thin, she endures trying to keep her naturally high spirits, trying to better everyone's lives, and, of course, hoping that her husband, whom she can hardly remember, may return someday.

One reviewer mentioned this story reminded her of 'Cold Comfort Farm'. In some ways similar, Love and War, however, is a serious drama and lacks the sardonic humor of the other, very pleasant flick.

A wonderful cast includes Brenda Fricker, who won an Oscar for the Daniel Day-Lewis' movie, 'My Left Foot'. The photography and settings are well done. Definitely an adult drama, there is a couple scenes of making out, and one bath scene with some nudity- it's brief and really nothing. The characters are what is important here, and they are terrific.

An intense but overall uplifting movie about the persistence of spirit and the strength of love. Enjoy!