Review of Testament of Youth (2015) by Larry T — 14 Jan 2015

The film of "Testament of Youth" will be the best flim I see this year, I think (and it is certainly straight into my "top ten" list). Saw a preview with a Q&A with Alicia Vikander, James Kent and Shirley Williams last night.

Kent has directed a very well thought through film adaptation of the much longer book. Vikander seems to exude all the ferocity and seriousness of Brittain, in real life, and was perfect casting. Shirley Williams is her mother's daughter and, as ever, was extremely insightful on what her mother was saying.

. It is about WWI and (because of who Brittain was) about the emergence of women in Edwardian society but, even more importantly, it is also about now. This is what she wrote the book for. The loss of loved ones and people you don't know (Brittain was assigned to the German wounded prisoners' hut at the Front) and for what purpose? - because politics is not working, because people rush to violent solutions to the beat of the drum.

.Brittain was certainly an unlucky person to lose her brother, fiance, and two close friends in that war but she was the best person to write something that means that lost generation will never be forgotten and maybe we will learn from that going forward one day.

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