A movie that truly moves you and allows the viewer to attempt to contemplate the sheer horror and orchestrated madness that was the first world war. Some of the user commnets om IMDB make comparison for some unknown reason to Saving Private Ryab which to me seem fatuous and wholly inadequate to give this marvellous film justice.
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I agree with you both! I taped this film a couple of weeks ago off the telly & to be honest I was not expecting much, thinking it would be yet another pleasing if an instantly forgettable BBC adaptation of which there are many let's face it!
The acting in this film is really great though & in particular I thought that Jonny Lee Miller was just superb.It is without doubt the best film I have seen him in & I was particularly impressed with his northern England accent as I know how false the Geordie accent sounds sometimes from less experienced actors.
I also cannot see any connection between this little gem & the film Saving Private Ryan other than the fact they both deal with the horrors of war I suppose.I think this film is much more akin to Richard Attenborough's 1996 film In Love & War instead (but Regeneration was better!)
Signed~A REAL Geordie (or Novocastrian to give us our posher name!)
This film is not a BBC adaptation, it is a French/Canadian production. And people compared this film to SPR because they came out around the same time. The only difference is this movie is far better than the American film.
shareI didn't watch this film yet, but i really want to... i'll probably do that soon :P
About SPR... lately everybody compare war movies to SPR and it's getting really annoying, goddamit SPR is not the first and not the last war movie out there, people compare taegukgi to SPR, even "A very long engagement" to SPR...
I don't think SPR is a breakthrough for war movies, no doubt the opening scene is something to remember but the rest of the movie is an avarage+ war movie, not very realistic and... well... i won't call it boring because it's not but the plot is quite empty, ok so they search for a guy to bring him back and it's so obvious he won't return with them and he will survive.
When people compare movies with SPR then they probably don't know much about cinema or war movies because that's the only war movie they saw.
"When people compare movies with SPR then they probably don't know much about cinema or war movies because that's the only war movie they saw."
I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t even think the premise of these two films is comparable, mainly in terms of the attitude shown towards war.
Having read Pat Barker’s novel and seen the film adaptation afterwards, I was truly amazed at Barkers sheer inventiveness and creativity; not in terms of Craiglockhart Hospital, but the conversations between Wilfred Owen and Sigfried Sassoon. Being a big fan of Owens poetry, and having even looked at draft stages of Anthem for Doomed Youth with Sassoon’s annotations, it was incredible viewing this relationship being acting out in the visual sense, as opposed to looking at their written battle!
Simply put, Barker’s Regeneration is contrary to the majority of previous World War 1 fiction, in the sense that she represents the cowardice of masculinity, as opposed to the heroic (fight for your county!) patriotic attitude that is documented in many texts. In depicting the numerous devastating results of “shell shock”, Barker showed the disturbing underground and almost behind-the-scenes look on War.
My main point here is that, although having only seen Saving Private Ryan once, and Regeneration a few times, they come to represent completely different views of War. SPR, if I can remember rightly, portrays the effort a squadron of soldiers undertake in order to prevent a mother losing more than one of her sons who are fighting in the war. Despite how breathtaking the opening scene on Normandy beach is in terms of a cinematic war scene, the film, in essence, comes to show the determination of human spirit during the hardest of times. Barkers view is completely contradictory to this. Her characters, both fictitious and real, have escaped the brutality of war rather than battled through it.
Therefore looking at the above quotation, this statement contains a lot of truth. It is very difficult to say whether one of these films is indeed “better” than the other as they depict different aspects of the war genre, one heroism and the other cowardice. I think in this situation, and to avoid upsetting fans of either film, it’s easier to state which film you prefer.
Let me know what you think of my comments.
I find it interesting that you don't stutter.
I find it even more interesting that you do
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Hi there doowdnuln, thanks for your comments. I think you might have missed the point I was making and with war being something so close to your heart, may have taken offence at it.
I wasn’t stating how unrealistic the film Saving Private Ryan was, but was merely stating how these two films come to represent oppositional views on war. You are right, I have never served in a war, can’t imagine how horrific the unnecessary battle was so therefore am unable to relate to the characters in the films. But that is not the issue here.
It was posted earlier in this discussion that people were comparing Regeneration to SPR, with many preferring Barker’s adaptation. My point was that ok, you can compare the films in terms of the war genre, but it is hard to compare them in terms of what they represent.
As for the family members you lost, I, like all of us, am truly sorry for the death caused to each and every soldier in the wars throughout history. Even one of my ancestors, a figure I am currently researching, fought in the Battle of Somme but was fortunate enough to survive, even being awarded the Victoria Cross for his efforts. His name was Major General Bernard Cyril Freyberg, VC. So war is, like yourself, also quite a close topic to my heart and being born into a militaristic family, it is hard to escape.
I am currently looking to re-study history, in particular war history as I feel I was il-educated on the topic at school. It is something we should all know about in detail and have an opinion on.
Wow, starting from an imdb film debate right through to the inadequacies of the government syllabus, think this is a good time to stop myself!
I hope this has clarified my point slightly and encouraged even more debate from many other users.
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Many thanks doowdnul for the book recommendations. I will see if i can get hold of the titles and let you know what i find.
share"I don't think enough films are made about WWI, I suggest you check out The Trench which is another British WWI film. "
So true..so true. I studyed film (and photogrpahjy) (actually at Napier university in edinburgh so i have been inside Craiglockhart many times!) and this was when i first came across regeneration. It was at a time when i was trying to write a few screenplays (and yes still working on them!)for films about the Great War and i was looking into films about it. I was appalled that there were hardly any. Ok when you look hard enough and include films like Doctor Zviago, which touches breifly on the war, they are out there, but take any person off the street, ask them to name five films about either WW2 or vietnam and i bet they can do it very quickly, but ask them to name five about WW1 and i bet many will not be able to! I can't believe its nearly 90 years since the end of hostilities, yet there are very few....too few...films about WW1. Problem is, i think hollywood doesn't see it as a big blockbuster topic....just god bless the independant film makers of europe canada and australia who have a little heart!
Incidently i was glad to hear the other day that there is a film coming out soon called "merry Christmas" about the christmas truce....i just hope it does justice to a powerful story.
Other films to see if you haven't already seen them. Gallipoli, deathwatch (ok its slighlty fictionalised...but good ending!) and of course All quite on the Western front
Gallipoli, featuring Mel Gibson of all people, was a pretty good World War I film, although thr action wasn't till the end of the movie
shareI have also wondered why so few films about WW1 have been attempted. I suspect there are several reasons for this. For example the sheer scale of the war. The fact that for most of the war there was stalemate, neither side able to move far from the trenches. I imagine that this fact would not make it an appealing choice for a Hollywood blockbuster producer.Also, I imagine the cost of creating an authentic world war one battlefield would be enormous. I agree with you about the independent film makers 100%.
Pat barkers trilogy of novels are excellent, especially Regeneration. If you are interested in reading another novel dealing with the same period, I would recommend "Birdsong" by Sebastien faulkes. This is a book I would love to see adapted for film, if only someone could do it justice.I'd be interested in what anyone else who has read it thinks.
May I recommend a couple of other WW1 films that are worth seeing?
Please consider Paths of Glory, A Very Long Engagement, King and Country.
I also enjoyed The Trench. However, I think a lot of critics dismissed it, i think it was a worthy effort. I think much of the criticism was due to the fact that the battlefields did not look that authentic. As I mentioned above, I imagine it would cost a pretty penny to recreate the real thing and that the makers of The Trench were constrained by budget.
Regards.
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Hello,
just remembered another french movie, The Officers Ward. It is very poignant, dealing with soldiers attempting to recover from horrible wounds.
The Return of the Soldier is another excellent film about the after-effects of WWI. Alan Bates plays a soldier returning from WWI who is suffering from shellshock and amnesia who believes he is still a young man in love with a local village lass (rather than married to the posh Julie Christie.) It is a psychological portrait of terribly poignancy.
shareThe comments here have centered on the script/verbal story telling. It's worth mentioning that the cinematography is good, there are many visually stunning and evocative shots.
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