Fortunately
for Vera Brittain, Hitler also had it in for pacifists. News that she was in
the National Socialist’s infamous “Black Book” of prominent citizens to be
immediately detained on the event of a successful German occupation provided
her a lot of cover. It is important to remember she came by her pacifism
honestly, witnessing the horrors of the WWI. As a V.A.D. nurse, Brittain will
see her generation decimated by war, including all those nearest to her in
James Kent’s adaptation of her enduring memoir, Testament of Youth (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
With
name like hers, Vera Brittain sounds like the perfect spokesperson for King and
Country propaganda. Instead she would become a tireless campaigner for
pacifism, feminism, and the failed League of Nations. However, she started on
the same page as her contemporaries. In fact, it was she who interceded on
behalf of her brother Edward to convince their father to allow his enlistment.
She will soon bitterly regret it, but at the time she thought she had to return
the favor. After all, Edward had helped convince Mr. Brittain to allow her to
study at Oxford, at a time when it was considered rather counter-productive for
a socially presentable young woman.
Through
her brother, Vera Brittain meets her future fiancé, poet Roland Leighton. This
leaves their old chum Victor Richardson as the odd man out, first rejected by
Vera (for whom he had long held a torch) and then initially disqualified by the
armed forces on physical grounds. Much to her unease, Leighton is readily
accepted into service. When the war drags on, just as Mr. Brittain feared, Richardson
eventually becomes more than fit enough for duty. Wishing to do her part too,
Vera Brittain volunteers as a nurse. She will be spared the trenches, but she
will still see a lifetime’s worth of carnage.
Trench
warfare was just no way to conduct a war. After watching Testament, Water Diviner, or any film about WWI, viewers will never
begrudge the use of drones by coalition forces in Afghanistan ever again. Of
course, anyone who knows his Hemingway or Remarque knows the general trajectory
of Testament, but seeing the
inevitable tragedy play out over the course of the war is quite compelling. The
running time of one hundred twenty-nine minutes is a tad long, but Kent (whose
extensive television credits include Inside Men and The White Queen) crafts
some wonderfully fragile little moments, coaxing deeply felt performances from
the accomplished ensemble.
Alicia
Vikander is perfectly suited to Kent’s sensitive but restrained approach. We
can practically see and feel her internalizing all of Brittain’s guilt, grief,
and anguish. Despite his early bluster, Dominic West (who played a shell-shocked
WWI veteran in The Awakening) has
some quietly devastating moments as Mr. Brittain, who understands war well
enough to fear for the worst. The Oxford lads all largely look and sound alike,
but Colin Morgan really put in the time and effort researching war blindness to
convincingly portray Richardson.
Clearly,
his years toiling in TV have honed Kent’s instincts. He nimbly tip toes around potential
schmaltz, but still delivers the expected quota of emotion. The scene
showcasing Leighton’s celebrated battlefield poem “Villanelle” is a fitting
case in point. Dialing down the soaring strings and rending of garments, Kent
simply allows viewers to connect with his words and the images of his final war-torn
days.
Suddenly
more commercial than anyone probably expected thanks to Vikander’s career
momentum generated by Ex Machina, Testament should well satisfy fans of classy
British costume dramas and historical romances. An elegant production, Testament of Youth is recommended for literate
audiences when it opens this Friday (6/5) in New York, at the Angelika Film
Center.
