Cecil says: We watched Military Wives on our wedding anniversary on a wet afternoon in Glasgow, when it was a relief just to get into the warm and out of the relentless rain outside. It was a good, light-hearted film for a matinee and actually felt very relevant to our own lives in so many ways.
We are both choral singers, rather than karaoke fans, but we
have seen enough self-important, know-it-all choir people over the years to
recognise the character played so well by Kristin Scott-Thomas.
We also lived a few miles from the UK’s largest garrison for
some years in Yorkshire and we rather fancy they filmed part of Military Wives
on that garrison that we knew so well (though I guess army housing looks pretty
similar wherever you are in the country). And we often drove past the isolated
farmhouse, which I’m pretty sure was mainly used for film sets and appeared in
this film (though there were no details of where exactly the locations were in
the credits at the end).
And we have both sung at the Albert Hall, my first time also
being a very emotional occasion, singing a Requiem just days after a close
friend had died, so there were lots of memory triggers throughout the film for
me, and I’m sure for Bea as well.
The plot is kind of fun: organising morale-boosting
activities for wives of servicemen and women left behind when the spouses go on
6-monthly tours of duty; and the very different approach from the senior
officer’s (posh) wife to the sergeant-major’s (more working class) partner.
I could never have survived in the armed forces for lots of
reasons, but one of the toughest things I think is the stark hierarchy and the
tendency for class divides to be so heightened in the forces. I would never
have fitted in with the ordinary soldiers, but nor would I have been at ease in
the officer’s mess, with all that posh talk going on around me.
There are some comical adjustments to the dialogue and
filming to make things easier (I guess) for American – and other overseas –
audiences, like the reference to ‘York Cathedral’ instead of Minster; and the
hilarious signpost in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales with “London, M1” to
the left and the garrison to the right (It reminds me of a final scene in some
movie we saw years ago when the main character goes to a ticket counter and
asks for ‘two tickets to Africa, please’…).
And although I loved the final song supposedly created from
letters the wives had written to their spouses (or vice versa), with beautiful
music (I think composed by Scotsman Lorne Balfe), I do not believe they would
have been learning their lines still on the coach down to London, or never have
rehearsed the song until they got to the changing rooms at the Albert Hall.
But, hey, this is fiction and there is dramatic licence, so it didn’t really
matter…
Overall, it’s a nice film, with some moving scenes related
to loss and grief, but a feel-good film on the whole, and certainly good for a
wet afternoon in Glasgow.
***
Bea says: Seen at my new fave cinema, and sort of my current
local – the Everyman in Glasgow, and as Cecil says, this was a bit of welcome
light relief, as well as a relief to be dry and warm and sheltered from the
Glasgow rain for a few hours!
Cecil suggested this one for our anniversary afternoon (in
between lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms and a fish and chip supper), and I was
happy to agree as I assumed it would be about the formation of the military
wives choir (which it was) – but I hadn’t quite realised how much it would
resonate with our life, including the Garrison scenes and the concert at the
Royal Albert Hall.
I entered choral life
later than Cecil, and have sung more than once at the RAH, but the first time (the
Verdi Requiem for me) is unforgettable.
Cecil and I are spending quite a bit of time apart this year due to
differing work commitments, so a film that brought together so many facets of
our life, on our wedding anniversary was actually very special and poignant.
However, it could have just been some good writing, and
perhaps everyone seeing this film feels connected in some way to its story of
marriages, loss, grief, parenting and joy – universal emotions even if one hasn’t
shared the exact experience of the women.
Other than these deeper emotions, the film is actually quite
lightweight and fun in a “Full Monty” kind of way with lots of singalong tracks
(I suspect a stage show is likely to follow) and wisecracking. Kristin Scott Thomas acts everyone else off
the screen, and the scene where she gets into the car and sobs is stellar – I did
not share the experience her character had, but I think we can all connect with
feeling that wretched, particularly when used to holding it all together. Her grounding performance lifts the whole
film above the forgettable, and I am so glad that she is in it.
***.5
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