I recently watched the film “Molokai: The Story of Father Damien” about a 19th century priest who volunteered to go to an island in the Pacific Ocean to console and care for the lepers. It is based on a true story. It’s a very moving and inspiring film. The actor playing the role of the priest was superb. Other actors include Leo McKern and Peter O’Toole. The customer reviews on Amazon generally recommend it very highly.
I hadn’t heard of that one, but will look out for it.
The other day we went to see “45 Years,” which is very good and very subtle. It’s about a couple (Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling) who are about to celebrate their 45th anniversry, when something happens…
Not a film, but a television series (is this allowed?), which we’ve just seen on DVD, “Takin’ Over the Asylum,” which was on the BBC in 1994. Ken Stott, David Tennant and Katy Murphy play three of the characters. Set in Glasgow, it’s about a man who is a not very good double glazing salesman but whose passion is radio, and who is a hospital radio DJ.
Very topical now, with the NHS mental health budget suffering.
Hi Christine, I’ve heard good reports about the 45 years so am going next week although our theatre seats are terrible! I’ve noted the DVD with Ken Stott in, sounds interesting.
I’ve also just recently seen Love & Mercy the excellent film about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, based on the true story.
I saw the film 45 Years today…. I thought it was very interesting in a very subtle way (as Christine mentions above) but the ending was so sudden I wasn’t expecting it!
Excellent acting as you’d expect from such wonderful actors and the film isn’t too long so managed the sitting just about ok.
Glad you liked it, Laura. It was a sudden ending, and you had to wonder what happened after the end, if you see what I mean. We had 25 minutes of trailers!
We recorded Millions Like Us the other day, which is a wartime film (1940-something), about an “ordinary” family. One of the daughters is called up to work in a factory, where she meets a lot of other girls from different backgrounds. It’s kind of semi-documentary, with many realistic scenes in the factory and so on. We’ve seen half of it.
I tried to put myself in the position of my parents, who were in their early 20s in 1943.
What puzzled me was Celia being sent away to a distant factory. My mother was called up to do similar work, but the factory was literally round the corner. But it was in Birmingham, and there were factories everywhere.
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