10 years of Flick Filosopher: our grandmothers’ stories

If you haven’t seen this film, then drop what you’re doing right now and remedy that oversight. From my review of The War Bride:

This is such a lovely film, full of little touches that feel like they came from a conversation with your grandmother over a cup of tea when she was in a particularly unguarded mood: huddling on the floor of a nightclub during an air raid, the party continuing in whispers; the wedding dress made from a white tablecloth; the ugly scars hidden under pretty dresses. That unguarded tenderness makes The War Bride so heartbreakingly stirring even after multiple viewings -- I go through a pile of hankies in a different spot each time I watch it -- because it's not only the story of one woman's life or even the lives of the 48,000 other British war brides who emigrated to Canada during WWII. The War Bride taps into a collective tale of the North American experience, of the pain and heartache and adventure of the people who came here looking for better lives, and left us, their children, in their wake, to uncover their secret stories.

• review of The War Bride, posted 12.09.02

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