Birdsong (2012)

I have no idea what The BBC TV movie, 'Birdsong' cost to make, but I'm sure it was a fraction of the cost of the average Hollywood movie. 'Birdsong' is a 3-hour drama, based on a best-selling book of the same name and is about the horrors of the 2nd World War, interspersed with a lingering, tragic love story involving the lead character. There are a number of trench warfare action scenes, and I have to say that the BBC has done incredibly well on what must have been an infinitesimal budget compared to the average Hollywood war movie budget. I am not saying that the BBC war scenes were superior to Hollywood's versions of WW1 warfare, but they more than held their own. This BBC adaptation was, in this reviewer's opinion, a high-class production.The characters are finely drawn and believable and we are comfortable with listening to the French characters speak English, as it is clear that they were all highly educated and the story required that they spoke English for the benefit of their 'English guests'. They even occasionally lapsed into their own tongue, (with appropriate sub-titles), when the occasion demanded it.Sure, Birdsong is a slow moving drama, and may lack some of the 'commercial' impact that a Hollywood movie might provide, but it certainly has its tense, dramatic moments; both in the trenches and in the French châteaus - and boudoirs! Indeed, the hero – or some may say anti-hero – comes back, seemingly from the dead - on no less than two occasions, and surely there was enough blood and guts, loss of life and dramatic moments to satisfy most viewers. It is a love story; a man's love of a woman who doesn't belong to him; and is set against the background of a terrible war; amongst the horrific battlefields of the Somme, Verdun, and elsewhere.

The scenery was very good and the acting of Jack Mawle as Firebrace was superb but that is the best that I can say about this film.After reading Faulks' amazing book it was a huge disappointment; Eddie Redmayne spent a lot of time staring, Clemency Poesy often looked to be in pain and their "love-making" lacked any sign of love; it was crudely portrayed.I am sorry to say that my husband and I have made two attempts to watch it and each time given up from boredom before the end. More than once we asked ourselves if we would have known what was going on had we not read the book.The flash backs were intrusive and the pace of the film slow; no wonder Sebastian Faulks expressed his misgivings about the making of a feature-length Hollywood movie.

I rarely review unless I love a movie and feel something has been unfairly rated due to some anomaly. Here I suspect the anomaly is that it will only be fully felt by people who have known something of this these level of intensity of love and death. Our world has become somewhat numbed to these things. I am lucky and unlucky enough to have had a meeting just like theirs and the story and intensity of it touched me very deeply. It is not just a matter of being open enough for these things to happen, but open enough to recognize their significance. And even in the absence of a war, for such a spiritual heart, as in the Bhagavad Gita, life will always be trench warfare on some level.

This review may contain spoilers. And it should if you want to stay away from this. I don't understand todays castings in many films and series - it must be that some so called actors only get their parts from the reason that they're related to the producers or some such explanation. Eddie Redmayne must be such an "actor", which is a very generous term in his case. Every other participant in this series is actually doing their jobs! Especially Clémence Poésy and Joseph Mawle who doesn't shine here, but does a decent working part.The story and overall plot is very straight forward, and one easily gets involved in the love affair and more recent situation in the trenches of WWI. But the wooden acting of Mr. Redmayne annoyed me from the start! His face doesn't even move much during the shoots. He keeps the same dumbfounded look in every situation! Even when he's seriously wounded and presumed dead, even then he's as expressive as a door knob! Gods! Please will someone explain to Mr. Redmayne that he's chosen the wrong occupation! He's certainly not an actor. And never will be.