This might be one of the most heartbreaking movies I have watched in a long time.
The beginning of the film is amazing, the bowie song a was a great choice. When we begin we first see the animated world, we see this colorful lively place. With people smiling, everything is so wholesome. We are introduced to Jim and Hilda, both an extremely accurate depiction of an older couple. The movie takes its time to get to the blast to build up on this pretty world, something that we see in Hilda’s imagination in a beautifully animated montage. Everything is perfect in this first half of the movie, you can’t help but feel like you’re spending time with your own grandparents. We see both Jim and Hilda reminisce about their childhoods as the situations they were in and before were really similar (war doesn’t change?) Throughout the entire first half we also see Jim worry about the bomb, he spends his time working on the shelter with two booklets he found telling him what to do. The booklets have inconsistencies and contradict each other multiple times (there’s nothing they can do to stop it?) But Jim carries on with a smile on his face (this damn theme of hope.) To me the blast was really impactful, it’s when we see the world that was built be literally destroyed. The moments leading up to the explosion were clearly really stressful as everything was unexpected and happened so quickly. And what happens next is basically destroying the viewers sense of hope scene by scene. Each day that passes by after the explosion Jim and Hilda look worse and worse, that combined with the resources running out creates a sense of worry that is hard to reach. All that they could do, and all that they did was wait for help to arrive, and while anyone would be going insane, knowing that death was imminent, they always had a smile on their face. Jim and Hilda were so hopeful that they when they were at their weakest they kept smiling. Even at the end when we knew exactly how this movie would end, they start praying, one final act of hope. This film is heartbreaking.
Now that I got my comments and retelling on the film’s themes out of the way, I would like to mention how much I love the way the movie was made. It is easy to say that everyone involved put a lot of care into everything. I love how there were segments that switch out from fully animated, to the set being built in the real world. Everything is so impressive for its times, the blend between the wholesome animation and the real life set clips is amazing. Also the choice for the art style is something that I can really appreciate, Raymond Briggs chose the perfect way to tell the story by mixing the wholesome art style with the tragic story. With the limited cast this film had, they do a great job. John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft really do an amazing portrayal of their characters, hearing their voices especially around the end of the film feels really realistic, obviously making the movie sadder than it already is. The score to the movie also isn’t huge. Music only plays in a limited amount of scenes, while I would’ve liked to see music implemented a little more in this movie, I completely agree that it works without it. The scenes without music feel really realistic and makes it easier to concentrate on what’s really going on, that being the horrors of war that the elderly couple is going through.
I thought this film was great, it is really worth it to watch.
This might be one of the most heartbreaking movies I have watched in a long time.
The beginning of the film is amazing, the bowie song a was a great choice. When we begin we first see the animated world, we see this colorful lively place. With people smiling, everything is so wholesome. We are introduced to Jim and Hilda, both an extremely accurate depiction of an older couple. The movie takes its time to get to the blast to build up on this pretty world, something that we see in Hilda’s imagination in a beautifully animated montage. Everything is perfect in this first half of the movie, you can’t help but feel like you’re spending time with your own grandparents. We see both Jim and Hilda reminisce about their childhoods as the situations they were in and before were really similar (war doesn’t change?) Throughout the entire first half we also see Jim worry about the bomb, he spends his time working on the shelter with two booklets he found telling him what to do. The booklets have inconsistencies and contradict each other multiple times (there’s nothing they can do to stop it?) But Jim carries on with a smile on his face (this damn theme of hope.) To me the blast was really impactful, it’s when we see the world that was built be literally destroyed. The moments leading up to the explosion were clearly really stressful as everything was unexpected and happened so quickly. And what happens next is basically destroying the viewers sense of hope scene by scene. Each day that passes by after the explosion Jim and Hilda look worse and worse, that combined with the resources running out creates a sense of worry that is hard to reach. All that they could do, and all that they did was wait for help to arrive, and while anyone would be going insane, knowing that death was imminent, they always had a smile on their face. Jim and Hilda were so hopeful that they when they were at their weakest they kept smiling. Even at the end when we knew exactly how this movie would end, they start praying, one final act of hope. This film is heartbreaking.
Now that I got my comments and retelling on the film’s themes out of the way, I would like to mention how much I love the way the movie was made. It is easy to say that everyone involved put a lot of care into everything. I love how there were segments that switch out from fully animated, to the set being built in the real world. Everything is so impressive for its times, the blend between the wholesome animation and the real life set clips is amazing. Also the choice for the art style is something that I can really appreciate, Raymond Briggs chose the perfect way to tell the story by mixing the wholesome art style with the tragic story. With the limited cast this film had, they do a great job. John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft really do an amazing portrayal of their characters, hearing their voices especially around the end of the film feels really realistic, obviously making the movie sadder than it already is. The score to the movie also isn’t huge. Music only plays in a limited amount of scenes, while I would’ve liked to see music implemented a little more in this movie, I completely agree that it works without it. The scenes without music feel really realistic and makes it easier to concentrate on what’s really going on, that being the horrors of war that the elderly couple is going through.
I thought this film was great, it is really worth it to watch.
