Recently, I went with my AS Media class to the BFI London Film Festival to watch Testament of Youth. I really enjoyed the experience because at the end of the film, the director and producer did a ‘question and answer’ with the audience which gave me a deeper insight into the film and I gained more knowledge on how it was made. Testament of Youth is directed by James Kent and produced by David Heyman and Rosie Alison; it is a UK 2014 film with a running time of 129 minutes. It was filmed in London, Oxford and Yorkshire and the genre is a British drama because it is based on a true story. It is a film adaptation of the memoir ‘Testament of Youth’ written by Vera Brittain who was born in 1893 and it is about her tragic experiences during World War One. She began writing it in November 1929 and it was published in August 1933. It also covers the genres of romance and coming of age because the character of Vera in particular shows a development and change throughout the narrative and the powerful relationship between Vera and Roland is also emphasized. The main characters in the film are Vera Brittain, played by Alicia Vikander; her Brother, Edward Brittain played by Taron Egerton; her Brother’s friend who becomes Vera’s fiancé, Roland Leighton played by Kit Harington; her good friend Victor Richardson, played by Colin Morgan and Vera’s Mother and Father played by Emily Watson and Dominic West.
Testament of Youth is about a twenty year old Woman named Vera
Brittain who defeats the parochial views of her parents by winning a
scholarship to study at Oxford University after her brother Edward kindly persuaded
their Father to let her sit the entrance exam. She falls in love with Edward’s
close friend, Roland who got a place at Oxford along with Vera; however once
Edward signs up to fight in the war, with the help of Vera informing Mr
Brittain that it is the right move for him to make, Roland follows in his steps
and also signs up, to which Vera then decides to postpone her studies at
Oxford. She volunteers as a military nurse and experiences the devastating
injuries and deaths of the brave British and German soldiers and from there on,
her life changes completely as she gradually loses the most important Men in
her life. Near the beginning of the film, it shows Vera swimming in a lake and
she is soon joined by Edward and Roland, they are all laughing and having an
enjoyable time together, creating memories of their friendship. At the end of
the film, Vera is shown swimming in the same lake but she is alone. She is
alone because both Edward and Roland passed away in the war, despite their
struggle to stay safe and alive for Vera and their families. I believe this
scene was used because that lake was the last memorable place that Vera had of
spending time with Edward and Roland whilst they were all content and not
involved in the war and she wanted to remember them in a positive way. She is
shown to be swimming off into the distance, portraying her as hopeful for a
brighter future, as if she is escaping and clearing her mind from all the
disastrous events that have occurred in her life since World War One.
Testament of Youth follows a non-linear narrative because at
the very beginning of the film, everyone is celebrating the end of WW1,
shouting, cheering and proudly waving the British flag but this scene is also
used towards the end of the film after the war has been shown and I think this
was done for a reason. As the people are extremely enthusiastic that the war is
over, Vera is struggling to make her way through the crowds and she seems to be
upset and angry. At the beginning, the audience may wonder why this is and it
is only nearer the end of the film that you realise she is so wistful due to
the deaths of Edward, Roland and also Victor that she cannot feel happy about
the end of the war and she feels that it would be wrong to celebrate.
There are many strong themes displayed in Testament of Youth, two important ones being hope and aspiration. Vera aspired to receive a place at Oxford University and to have a very successful career as a writer in the future. However, after Edward and Roland signed up, this changed because she became a nurse in the hope that she would save lives and be as close to the two men as possible. This was an extremely brave thing for Vera to do because she had to leave behind her dreams and what she had worked towards for such a long time. Her final hopes were that Edward, Roland and Victor would be safe, which is what made their deaths as heart-breaking as they were because the audience connected with the pain Vera experienced to lose her loved ones and her reactions to their deaths greatly emphasized the emotions that she was going through. Other major themes include passion and devotion because despite Vera only knowing Roland for a short amount of time; the love shown between the two of them is immensely powerful and they display a great amount of affection towards one another. Roland shows passion towards Vera when he proposes to her on the beach when he comes home on leave because they both wanted to take their relationship further and it highlights how much he cares for her. Roland also shows devotion towards the war because he wanted to represent Britain and make his country proud so he devoted himself to being a soldier rather than studying at Oxford University with Vera. Additionally, war and conflict are the more obvious themes displayed in the film as they are what the narrative is based upon. However, conflict is not just showed during the war, it is also shown between Vera and her Father at the beginning of the film when he buys her a piano rather than paying the fees for a place at Oxford because he believes it is pointless for a Woman like Vera who can easily get married.
I believe that the cinematography in Testament of Youth was
very well thought out and it was to an extremely high quality. For example,
when Vera is rushing through the crowds whilst the end of WW1 was being
celebrated, handheld camera action was being used to emphasize how chaotic the
atmosphere was and to make the audience feel as if they were there with her,
making the scene more realistic. This method was used throughout the film such
as when the nurses had to deal with a large mass of war victims all at the same
time and the handheld, shaky camera showed the panic and urgency the nurses and
soldiers must have been feeling. Many close ups were used to show the emotions
of the characters. For example, when Vera receives the call informing her that
Roland has passed away, a close up is used to show her immediate, shocked reaction
and then the tears streaming down her face. Close ups are also used of the
wounded soldiers so the audience can understand the immense pain they went
through and the amount of courage they had. The contrast between life at
university and life as a nurse in the war is shown through sound. Whilst Vera
was at Oxford, there was little background noise and the environment she was in
seemed very peaceful whereas when she was working as a nurse, there was often
shouting or cries of pain in the background, highlighting the intensity of the
job. I also noticed that there was a lot of dark lighting throughout Testament
of Youth and this may have been because there were many traumatizing moments
within the film therefore, the darkness helps the audience to understand the
negativity that is surrounding the majority of the characters.
Overall, I really enjoyed Testament of Youth because I found
the narrative easy to get into and I was able to connect strongly with a lot of
the characters. I also found it very emotional due to the themes being
extremely powerful and touching and every actor put on a realistic and
believable performance. In the ending credits the message: ‘In loving memory of
Edward Brittain, Roland Leighton and Victor Richardson’ was shown and this
really helped the me to understand how all these events regarding the
characters in the film have occurred in real life and how we should never forget
all the courageous soldiers that served for their country in the war.
No comments:
Post a Comment