Review of Mrs. Miniver (1942) by Mike K — 19 Aug 2008

Mrs. Miniver might be William Wyler's warm, affectionate, spirited masterpiece, so natural and emotional. The source of these organic traits is the film's portrayal of the leisurely, unsuspecting life lived by the characters: Greer Garson, in a beautiful performance, plays the title role, a family woman living in a comfortable suburban house in London with Walter Pidgeon, giving one of the most genuine, natural, and realistic performances of the silver screen era, and several live-in housekeepers while their son is off at college. As German occupation looms, their community seems so pure and diplomatic that the idea of the SS disruption is intensely real to us, tragic. Winston Churchill himself claimed with complete confidence that this film did more to raise the morale of British troops "than a fleet of destroyers.".

A big part of that surely comes from the movie's depiction of England's resourceful prevention of invasion, as is illustrated in a quiet sequence wherein Pidgeon takes his motorboat to aid in the Dunkirk evacuations, and of course England was the only European country that successfully averted occupation. The most powerful scene in the film, a tour de force of direction, is the when Mrs. Miniver is confronted by a wounded German pilot in her home, quite a shock, yet handled with humble calm.

The heartbreaking element of this film is how joyous it is to see the joy of its characters in the peace of their community with a growing amount to lose. One of the best non- contemporary achievements in cinema, Mrs. Miniver is a moving, uplifting portrait of a country's growing determination to defend their way of life.