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Hope and Glory

Boorman's whimsical look back at family life in London during WWII struggles to balance the everyday chores of life with the totality of war and the havoc it wreaks—in this case when ordinary citizens are the targets of enemy air raids. While the family's father is off fighting the war, the mother tries to keep her three children safe at home and conduct life as usual, despite the best efforts of her oldest daughter to grow up way too fast as the bombs fall and the world spins out of control—both on a global scale and in their neighborhood. But as told from the perspective of a seven-year-old boy (ostensibly Boorman himself), the film ultimately opts for more amusing anecdotes than the tragic tales of death and despair that usually accompany wars. The result is an imperfect, bittersweet look back at the home front during a time and place more often portrayed on the front lines. Hope and Glory could be seen as making the war trivial, but Boorman successfully drives home his point that life goes on under all circumstances.

- April 17, 2006

DVD Extras

Almost nothing is included, just a lonely theatrical trailer.

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Hope and Glory (1987)

John Boorman's semi-autobiographical recollection of his London childhood during the blitz in World War II.


Written and Directed by John Boorman


Starring Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sammi Davis, Ian Bannen

113 minutes
Rated PG-13 (adult themes, language, war violence)

Movie: B-
Extras: F