“Few stage staples from 90 years ago would easily translate to the screen today, yet R.C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End proves potent as ever in this sturdy new adaptation from director Saul Dibb and writer-producer Simon Reade.
“The British Army C Company stationed in Northern France in early 1918 has already fought four years in a war they were originally promised would be “over by Christmas.” Thus it feels incongruous for them to receive a spanking new recruit fresh out of basic training, let alone one so naïve as Raleigh (Asa Butterfield). Actually, Raleigh has been placed here by request: There’s nothing he’d like more than to be reunited with his former school head-boy and prospective brother-in-law Captain Stanhope (Sam Claflin), widely regarded as “the best commander of the lot.”
“But Stanhope is not happy to see this wide-eyed reminder of his past. Indeed, he’s ashamed of what he’s become under cumulative stress — an alcoholic, belligerent shadow of his former self — and worries that young Raleigh will carry news of this decline back to his betrothed. Still, he continues to hold it together for the sake of his men.” - Variety
Printer-friendly version
