Review of Glorious 39 (2009) by Freddy B — 29 Jan 2010

Beautiful to watch. And with Poliakoff's usual fetishism for extraordinary buildings and beautiful objects it a bit of a treat for the eyes. But its oddly underwhelming. Poliakoff suits tv. That format works better for him than a movie, not least because you can tease the audience, give them the elements of a story over a few episodes, and use that break to change narrative pace, and character perspectives.

Here he's a little stuck between a rock and a hard place - trying to evoke a sense of place and time whilst also trying to slowly unravel a mystery and construct a commentary on both past and present attitudes to peace and war and the lengths people will go to to prevent either.

So, worth watching when its (undoubtedly) on BBC 1 on a bank holiday Sunday night sometime, but not quite right for the big screen.