Review of Testament of Youth (2015) by Leon B — 28 Aug 2015

Review:

This movie starts off to be quite upbeat but when her brothers and loved one goes off to war, it becomes quite depressing, as war is. From an entertainment point of view, I did get quite bored after a while but the content is touching and Vera Britain's story is full of emotional drama. The movie is set during the First World War and the happy go lucky Vera Brittain is a promising writer who wants to go to Oxford to further her education, against her fathers wishes. After some persuasion from her brother, her father finally agrees for her to go to Oxford, were she passes her exams whilst trying to hold down a relationship with her boyfriend who is fighting at war. After a couple of tragic incidents, she decides to put her education on hold and she serves as a nurse for the victims of war. There are other aspects to the storyline, like the touching love story and her rebellious attitude but you have to watch the movie to feel the emotion of her story. The acting was believable, especially from Alicia Vikander who played the lead but the pace of the movie is quite slow and pretty long. The director captured the period quite well, with the costumes and the cinematography but he focused to much on the main character which is why I got quite bored after a while. Anyway, it's a watchable period drama which covers quite a few elements but it did seem like it was never going to end. Watchable but too long!

Round-Up:

Alicia Vikander, 26, is a Swedish actress who has been making a name for herself lately in big movies like Ex Machina, the Man From U.N.C.L.E., Seventh Son, Burnt, with Bradley Cooper and the Danish Girl with Oscar winning Eddie Redmayne. For such a young age, she has done quite well in her acting career and she has a few movies in the pipeline like the next Bourne movie and the Light Between Oceans with Michael Fasbender and Rachel Weisz. Personally, I hadn't heard of her before I watched this movie but after seeing her filmography, I'm sure that she will become a household name. I keep on confusing her with Emily Blunt though! Anyway, this is the best acting that I have seen from Kit Harington, who is mostly known for his role in the Game Of Thrones as the famous Jon Snow and he seems to be popping up in a couple of movies lately like the Seventh Son and his major role in Pompeii. I'm not that impressed with his acting style because he seems a bit dead behind the eyes but he still has a major role in one of the biggest series ever made, so he must be doing something right. This is the first major movie directed by James Kent whose known TV movies like the Thirteenth Tale, Margaret and a couple of episodes of Eastenders so this must have been a big responsibility to take on. His experience explains why the movie is so long and I could see this film being a little mini series but it's a bit too much for the big screen. With that aside, it's a great achievement for a first movie but I personally had to watch it in two parts because I fell asleep.

Budget: N/A.

Worldwide Gross: $5.3million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their war/romance/drama movies about the compelling story of Vera Brittain who was a rebellious woman who had to deal with war, lose and remembrance throughout her life. 4/10.