Product Description

British writer/director John Boorman (The Emerald Forest) draws us into an astonishing and exhilarating portrait of his own childhood, set against the terrors of a London torn apart by the onset of WWII. Seven-year-old Billy Rohan (Sebastian Rice Edwards) finds his childhood to be atime of great dangerand even greater discovery. From thunderous bombings at his own doorstep andthe constant threat of Luftwaffe air raids to the landing of a German paratrooper in his neighborhood and the joyous obliteration of his much-hated school, Billy's young life is shapedand even enrichedby the one positive thing war has brought him: liberation from the ordinary. And though Billy is surrounded by decimation and the smoking remnants of ruined lives, his sense of enchanted wonderment and innocence in the face of man's most destructive folly affect him in a way that alters his life forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4415 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-06-05
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 113 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
This winning 1987 epic written and directed by John Boorman (Deliverance, The General) serves as a picaresque and semi-autobiographical remembrance of a boy's coming of age during the Second World War. Exhibiting a defiant and humorous take on life during the London blitz, the family of the young boy at the center of the story (Sebastian Rice-Edwards) is a close-knit and resilient bunch, undeterred in the face of the war and reveling in each other even as they hide from the incessant bombing. To be sure, there are some poignant moments in this childhood reminiscence, such as when the boy's older sister (Sammi Davis) falls in love with a Canadian, becomes pregnant, and marries him, only to see him taken away by the military police. And the boy's mother (Sarah Miles) serves as a strong influence in the boy's life as she leads her family through this tumultuous time. The majestic sweep of the film is contrasted with so many comic moments as the people in town go about the mundane details of their daily lives yet also engage in the most absurd rituals in dealing with the onslaught of German artillery, from taking the air raids for granted to wearing gas masks at school. Boorman doesn't dwell on the horrors of war; instead he celebrates the richness and resilience of the people he remembers so fondly. An adventurous and nostalgic slice of life, Hope and Glory is a superb and memorable film. --Robert Lane

Customer Reviews

Endearing Endurance
This film focuses on an English family which struggles to cope with the Blitz during World War Two. The devastation of attacks on London is brilliantly juxtaposed with the idyllic countryside to which Grace Rohan (Sarah Miles) relocates with her children after her husband Clive (David Hayman) goes off to war. Much of the story is based on director John Boorman's own childhood experiences at a time when there seemed so little reason for hope. "Glory" certainly describes the eventual Allied victory but also the courage of the English people meanwhile and certainly the affirmation of shared values which bound so many families together amidst fear, separation, death, and destruction. Much of the film's focus is on Grace's father (Ian Bannen), a patriarch to be sure and (at times) something of an eccentric, but a loving and decent man nonetheless, struggling to cope with all manner of domestic crises while providing a safe haven for daughters Grace, Faith, Hope, and Charity. He and grandson Billy (Sebastian Rice Edwards) forge a special bond in response to the pastoral "harem" in which they find themselves. This is a charming film but also one which also offers some sobering insights into how disruptive wartime conditions can be, especially to a sensible and sensitive boy such as Billy. His perspective is presumably Boorman's (re-established years later) and done so with style and grace.

Great Film For Practically Anybody
This is one of my top 20 all time favorite movies. If you can imagine all the trials and tribulations, joys and sorrows and aches and pains of childhood and then imagine going through WWII at the same time you have some idea of what this movie is about. Told primarily through the eyes of a young boy, this movie shows a very personal experience of what the Home Front was like for London civilians. Neighbors get bombed out, shrapnel lies in the streets, friends die, and life somehow still goes on. The movie does a really good job of showing how the war could be a source of wonder to a child living through it and a cathartic experience for the adults. At the same time it can be incredibly funny and this is really why the film is so good. Probably my favorite scene is when the grandfather sends the young boy fishing with orders not to come back until he has caught some fish. A close second is the german jam scene. If you like period films, you'll love this. If you just like good movies, not too serious or too silly or too sad, give this one a viewing. Also, the punting instructions given in the movie actually work. Soon after watching this film, I ended up in Oxford, England and was able to teach myself to punt in less than an hour just from remembering this movie, so it's also educational!

A Unique Classic
I first saw this film when I was about 12 years old when my parents had rented it and it had stayed with me for my entire life. So much in fact I was compelled to find it after I had forgoten the title and I proceded to drill my English boss for the title. Eventually after some searching I found the movie and I enjoy it fully. The film is like few others I have seen in my young life and even though the accents are hard to understand the mood of the film carriers you. War movies and biographies have always been a hobby of mine but this movie goes beyond the traditional war film as it dives into the effects on the general population and children. It is a tremendous film with something for everyone (Humor, drama, etc.) and in my belief a film many Americans should view in order to understand something which we have never seen up close.