MovieChat Forums > Hedd Wyn (1996) Discussion > Lyrical, Powerful and Tear-jerking. (SP...

Lyrical, Powerful and Tear-jerking. (SPOILERS)

posted 19 years ago by sneakyclevermongols
12 replies | jump to latest

Wow, I can't believe I'm the first to comment on this discussion board. :::happydance:::

"Hedd Wyn" was nominated for a "Best Foreign Film" Oscar. When he introduced this movie at the Academy Awards that year, I remember Anthony Hopkins was proud enough to burst right out of his tux: "And from my native country of North Wales..." etc, delivered with a grin even scarier than Hannibal Lechter's.

Considering that, I gotta say this video was BLOODY difficult to find. This is indeed a shame, because it's very beautifully done. Whether you like Wales, history, poetry, WWI, anti-war movies, or just a well-told story, more people should know about it.

The fact that it's filmed entirely in Welsh does not detract from the narrative; it enhances it. (It is a shame that more Scots/ Irish "period pieces" don't follow the same example, and film in Gaelic!) The subtitles are easy to follow and the story sucks you in:

"Hedd Wyn" begins by mentioning the national poetry championship of Wales: the Eisteddfod---literally, "a sitting." Text on the screen briskly explains that the Eisteddfod's award for Best Poem is a handsomely carved wooden throne, and why. (The strange prize has its origins in an ancient and beautiful Celtic custom. The tribes always honored their chief poet, or bardd, by seating him as an equal beside their chieftain.)

It's September of 1917. The camera pans very slowly over the intricate carvings of the coveted Eisteddfod throne. The voice of the head-judge, Dafyd, calls for the winning poet to stand and be recognized. He calls a second, and a third time, while the unseen crowd of 8,000 murmurs in mounting agitation.

No one responds.

Then, there is a faint metallic whistling, followed by the crash of a mortar-round.

With that explosion the scene jumps backwards to a day in June, six weeks prior to the Eisteddfod. We find why the winning poet cannot stand to receive this high honor: at that very moment, he is lying in the mud of a trench in Ypres, dying of a shrapnel-wound.

While the young man slowly bleeds to death, two things happen:

-One, is that his life flashes before his eyes. We find that he is Ellis "Elsin" Evans: a simple farmer's son with an enormous literary gift. ("Hedd Wyn," or Blessed/White Peace, is his primary pen-name.) Eloquent flashbacks tell of his life, his loves--quite a few of these--his family, his abhorrance for violence. And finally, the tragic events that forced him to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, bringing him to Belgium during Pilkem Ridge (3rd Ypres), one of the ugliest battles of WWI.

-Throughout the scenes of Evans dying, his masterpiece (the award-winning poem "Yr Arwr," or "The Hero") is whispered with loving, sorrowful tones. The voice belongs to a mysterious woman in a flowing veil, whom Ellis sees trailing him from time to time like an elusive phantom. Whether she is his muse, his female ideal, or the personification of Wales itself, you are left wondering until the very end.

There is little mystery as to whether or not Ellis survives. Ninety seconds into the film, it's pretty obvious that the wound is fatal. Since the movie's target-audience knew this (most patriotic Welshmen are already familiar with Ellis' story, and its tragic ending) there must have been a challenge in keeping the suspense anyway.

The director succeeds in pulling this off. The storytelling is so human and captivating, you find yourself hoping up until the last minute that Ellis will defy the historical record and make it somehow. And inside, part of you howls with loss when he smiles, and softly breathes his last words. ("Yes, I am...happy." Ironically, sadly, delivered in English.)

Be sure to watch ALL of the credits. I defy you to look at the final frame and not burst into tears.

Huw Garmon slides easily into the title role, and manages to look VERY creepily like the real-life photographs of Evans (the "Bard of the Black Chair," as he later came to be known.) PBS audiences in the States, may recognize Garmon as the murderer Meurig, from the episode of Cadfael entitled "Monk's Hood."

[–] Heddwyn 19 years ago

Excellent summary of the movie Hedd Wyn.

While England is fighting for King and country, the war helped errode the Welsh way of life with the arrival of English troops and their gunnery ranges which were planted squarely in one of the most Welsh areas of Wales. The obvious impact on Wales was the loss of its sons and brothers to the killing fields of Europe. As the war drug on, those at home could not escape the turmoil--the rising death toll and the mounting casualties. But still the government demanded more men, and so pacifist Ellis Evans got drafted into the army.

I felt the whispered lines from Yr Arwr that are spoken throughout the film (as opposed to those in Ellis' own voice) was Arianhrod, the Celtic goddess whom Ellis reveals in a discussion with his sister as being his muse who helped him write.

Lastly, it should be pointed out that the film was shot on location. The Evans farm,Yr Ysgwrn (located a mile or so east of Trawsfynydd) was used in the film as is the surrounding countryside.

The credits are indeed interesting; you see that Ellis's nephew was thanked for allowing the use of the Evans home and that one of his sisters was acknowledged too. (That is IF my very limited, fractured Welsh has not fail me.)

A year ago or so I asked S4C if they were planning to reissue the film on DVD, perhaps with commentary or other features such as the real Hedd Wyn; the significance of the Eisteddfod, etc. They replied no, they weren't.

GOOD GRIEF, why not?

Cymru am byth!

[–] sneakyclevermongols 19 years ago

I felt the whispered lines from Yr Arwr that are spoken throughout the film (as opposed to those in Ellis' own voice) was Arianhrod, the Celtic goddess whom Ellis reveals in a discussion with his sister as being his muse who helped him write.

That's listed as a possibility, but IMHO it was thrown in as a red herring. The Veiled Woman does first materializes in mid-sentence, in the scene you mention.

I just have trouble accepting this without question. The Veiled Woman seems to be benign, whereas surviving Welsh legends do NOT remember Arianrhod as a very good or loving person. ;)

Remember, at the very end, the Veiled Woman also appears during Ellis' death-vision and conducts him to the "other side". After he is seated on the Chair, she walks away into the light, but turns over her shoulder three times in succession to look at him. Each time her face changes to one of his girlfriends: first she is Lizzie Roberts; then she is Jini Owens; then she is Enid's young schoolteacher (forget her name...Mary?)

Myself, I would have applauded if they also threw in his mom and his favorite sister. ;) It would really hammer it home, that his muse was the spirit of Welsh Women.

PS> Interestingly, I loved how when Ellis is on the train to boot camp, the Veiled Woman appears outside his window, and her veil has turned from white to black. VERY effective foreshadowing, for the black cloth draped over the Chair at the end.

[–] erin_fflur 19 years ago

It is widely believed to be arianrhod, and that is what i personally believe. However you are right in thinking that she was not a particularly a loving person in the Mabinogi, where she cursed her son from ever having a name, being able to wear armour, or have a wife from this earth. (His uncle Gwydion, the wizard, sorted it all out for him in the end!)

I love Hedd Wyn, particularly because it is the most succesful welsh film, and i am very proud because Ellis lived in my region. The filming was shot here also, on his own farm, Yr Ysgwrn, and village, which is about 3 miles away from my own village. quite cool right!
Curiously enough, the film 'The first knight' with sean connery was filmed around the same village.

oh and you are so right about the final scene during the credits!

[–] Silvertigger 18 years ago

I also believed in Arianrhod, I'm doing Blodeuwedd and Hedd Wyn in Welsh now and it's nice to have that link.
I loved this film. I felt very emotional, especially at the end. I think it's tragic that he never got to see his chair. I'm doing a poem in Welsh called 'Hedd Wyn' by R.Williams Parry and I'm going to Belguim next week to see his grave. I think it's really sad.
I thought the film was acted out really well, I actually cried at the end, when they're waiting to go over the top and that final scene...

[–] kal5150 18 years ago

this is available via amazon (used copies only tho!)
i absolutely MUST point out that antony hopkins is from SOUTH wales and chose to become a US citizen recently (hmm) - he is not a gog!

i did find this another mawkish, sentimental effort from the TAFFIA but i still enjoyed it (perhaps as so far away now)

whores will have their trinkets...

[–] rokshok183 18 years ago

A really good synopsis and pointers on the film written in this board. Im afraid i cant make any such profound comments or insight about this film. But i did watch it recently on S4C on the basis that my brothers and a lot of friends/acquaintences from St Clears/Pwll Trap were extras in the war scenes. I would of been myself but i was ill or had other work commitments (i cant truly remember).

I have to say that watching this film again after nearly 15 years, it truly captivated me. The main point being that although you learn of Ellis'es death at the beginning of the film,it thorougly succeeds in creating a deep compassion for the characters whilst journeying through his life and events. The narration of his poetry shows the expressive beauty and insight of the man, and its perfectly set into the films scenes to provide another layer to the drama acted on the screen.

Talking of the locations, the war scenes were filmed in South West Wales at Templeton airfield, a small vilage south of Narbeth, pembrokeshire. I recall it was filmed during a blazing hot summer, which caused problems as i believe the crew wanted to re-create a miserable cold winter landscape. For the extras, i recall that the scene concerning the soldiers being measured up for their uniforms created a bit of commotion as it involved them all queing up on screen in their altogethers. Apparently every female crew member dropped what they were doing to be an off set audience for that.haha

I should probably apologise for lowering the tone of a beautiful film by submitting this banal post. I wont though.

[–] wandering-mind 15 years ago

The Taffia? that was a term used to describe the South Walian friends of Howard Marks who helped him distribute Marijuana in London during the sixties/seventies, dont see how you can use it to describe a film based in North Wales as the Taff river runs through South Wales mate but hey go ahead use a slightly xenophobic inaccurate phrase to describe a whole country(your not English by chance?).

as for Mr Hopkins i have no qualms about him being a U.S citizen,he gets better tax breaks so more power to him, he knows he Welsh and so do we,he contributed a substantial amount of his own money in the conservation of Mt. Snowdon and has never lost his Welsh accent and is a great British actor

I myself would love to re-watch Hedd Wyn as i watched it in Welsh class when i was 14 and the only response it got from a room of teenagers was laughter at the nude scenes, now im a little older i would appreciate this film more as i have good memories of winning the bards chair in my schools eisteddfod as a wee lad

i got rid of my teeth at a young age coz im straight teeth are for gay people - Master Shake

[–] lifes_a_deception 17 years ago

I loved this film when we studied it in Welsh. It's wonderfully made and I was crying by the end. The story of Hedd Wyn is very familiar to me. My friends family are actually related to hedd Wyn and 'apparently' own the famous chair.(My mam told me that.... so if you know otherwise ...blame her for false information!)My sister's friend is actually related to Huw garmon...Lol... he's her uncle. My favourite scene in the whole film is the first one when they are calling for him to stand and no-one does... that bit still sends shivers. I visited Hedd Wyn's grave a couple of years ago...it was a very sombre moment.
If anyone here understands welsh and hasn't already read the poem, I would really recommend the welsh poem 'Hedd Wyn' by R. Williams Parry. Tis a great tribute.
I think this is the best Welsh film out there.

"I don't understand what Billie just said,so I'll talk about chickens."-Tre Cool

[–] soue37-1 15 years ago

I haven't seen this film in perhaps as much as ten years by now, since I watched it in school. It's a very good film , and a real shame they don't have it on DVD. S4C have a terrible reputation for converting their video to DVD catalogue.

[–] Dylan-o 13 years ago

Bloody brilliant analysis of one of the greatest films of all-time.

magicians do not exist.
http://tinyurl.com/2010top20

[–] parker2010 13 years ago

Oh, just stumbled across this one, a must have...off to check Ebay...

[–] malcolm-smith 11 years ago

If anyone is looking for a copy then contact Cob Records in Porthmadog as they always seem to have a copy in. They do mail order.