Regeneration

 Regeneration 1997

• Director: Gillies MacKinnon
• Seen by this director: Tara Road, Hideous Kinky
• Based on the book by Pat Barker
• Cast: Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Johnny Lee Miller, Stuart Bunce, Tanya Allen, David Hayman, Dougray Scott
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jonathan Pryce – The White King, Wolf Hall, Woman in Gold, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Brothers Grimm, Very Annie Mary, Tomorrow Never Knows, Evita, Glengarry Glen Ross, Brazil, Timon of Athens and on stage (the Globe in London) The Merchant of Venice
• James Wilby – Gosford Park, Crocodile Shoes, Howards End, A Handful of Dust
• Johnny Lee Miller – Trainspotting 2, Dark Shadows, Trainspotting
• David Hayman – Fishermen’s Friends, Blinded by the Light, London Spy, Macbeth, The Hollow Crown, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, My Name Is Joe, The Boxer, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Rob Roy, Sid and Nancy
• Dougray Scott – Doctor Who, My Week with Marilyn, United, To Kill a King, Ever After
• Why? The book. Jonathan Pryce.
• Seen: 12 December 2021      

       WWI. Dead and dying on the battlefield.

       War hero and poet Siegried Sassoon (Wilby) throws his medal away and declares his opposition to the war. He is sent to a military mental hospital. Psychiatrist Captain Rivers (Pryce) is given the job of making him change his mind about the war.

       Also in the hospital is Wilfred Owens (Miller), also a poet, now known for his powerful war poetry.

       Life in a mental hospital for shell-shocked soldiers. Is Sassoon the only sane one there? Or is insanity the only sane reaction to war? Is Capt Rivers more insane than any of them because he takes his job of getting the men fit enough to return to battle seriously?

       The battlefields we’ve seen in other films, and the trenches. Maybe even some mental hospitals. If only telling the story many times would stop war. Damn masculinity ideals.

       Still, it has to be told again and again and this version is well done. Jonathan Pryce, as always, gives a superb performance. They’re all good.       

4 * of 5.