Merkel

I think this was my first Curzon film watched at home. A pretty straightforward documentary about Merkel’s life and career, broadly uncritical/hagiographic.

The Great Escaper

A pretty straightforward biopic telling the true story of a D-Day veteran who missed the booking for the 70th anniversary jaunt to Normandy, but then did a bunk from his old people’s home and went anyway. That doesn’t sound so wonderful, but Michael Caine’s and Glenda Jackson’s performances, and the writing, make this a truly excellent film – lots of weeping. The scene in the bar when they meet some German veterans effectively channels Book 24 of the Iliad – the mutual salute between former enemies sounds corny now as I type this, but really wasn’t. Similarly powerful is the way the Caine character helps the recently-screwed-up-in-Afghanistan veteran. In fact one of the film’s central threads is how Caine’s character just sorts out other damaged people, from the young vet just mentioned to an alcoholic contemporary. The other thread I suppose is his response to war: his initial anger at the senseless loss (his visit is in part to place a fag packet at the grave of a dead comrade, flashbacks of whom pepper the piece) culminate in an angsty shout to the heavens about the waste; but this is nuanced, even corrected, by his wife, who, on their reunion, argues that the truth is more complex – yes – there’s the waste, but also true is their long, happy marriage.

The contingencies of our currently looking after aged parents, one of whom is in a nursing home, made this film, as we Quakers say, ‘speak to my condition.’ But it’s more than that. A truly great final film for Glenda, and perhaps also for Michael/Maurice.

How they are related

‘Germans, Fawlty!’ They’re not so bad after all. The long, happy relationship which ‘Mutti’ had with her people parallels Michael and Glenda’s; both sets of experiences came from the same conflict. ‘Nuff said.