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James Finnegan says ‘Military Wives’ has good performances to make it worth investing your time and money…
THIS week’s film is very much in the genre of “Calendar Girls” and “The Full Monty”, so if you enjoyed them, you will enjoy this. It is a story based on the true life experiences of those wives and families whose husbands are away from home deployed in the Afghanistan campaign.
Whatever your personal political viewpoint of the vertues or not of such activities, there has to be a realisation of the concerns and fears of family members who work in such dangerous situations.
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In an attempt to foster morale among the wives left behind, Colonel’s wife Kate (Kristen Scott Thomas from Four Weddings and a Funeral) takes it on herself to organise the group into a choir, as befits herself as self appointed leader.
However, Lisa, played by Sharon Horgan, is far more laid back, and finds herself in opposition to Kate due a difference in style, approach and her husbands promotion. Kate wants a formal approach, Lisa is more of a “go with the flow” type of leader.
This is not an over complicated plot. The women go from total beginners to performing at the Royal British Legion Service of Rememberance.
Kristen Scott Thomas in ‘Military Wives’.
There is the girl who thinks she can’t sing, but can, and the girl who thinks she can sing, but can’t. The two leads initially have conflict, but find a way to work together for the good of the group.
The performances of Scott Thomas and Horgan really raise this from the ordinary. This could so easily have been cliche central, but they bring their characters to believable life. There are enough characters around the rest of the cast to justify your investment in this film.
Ironically, the story is based on the BBC television series “The Choir”, which set the template for future series of forming choirs from scratch with members of the public. If you stay for the credits, you will see excerpts from this program.
It was an interesting story over a number of weeks but would perhaps be hard to make into a dramatic story of ninety minutes or so.
Written by Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard, and directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), this is a perfect film to chase away the Corona concerns for a while anyway. Enjoy!
