This was the last film to be directed by Lord Sir Richard Attenborough (A Bridge Too Far, Ghandi, In Love and War), with a good cast and a reasonable rating by critics, I was willing to give it a try. Basically the films opens with the funeral of a World War II veteran in 1991, other veterans who knew the man watch his daughter Marie (Neve Campbell) deliver a eulogy, while her mother Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine) sits outside the church for a smoke and to nurse a hangover. Ethel Ann is acting strangely, her friend Jack (Christopher Plummer) is the only one who understands why, it emerges that there are a few things Marie does not know about her mother's past, in particular the truth about her love life. The story flashes back in time to when young Ethel Ann (Mischa Barton) was lively and optimistic, she falls in love with young farmer Teddy Gordon (Arrow's Stephen Amell), but he goes off to fight in the Second World War, along with his friends Jack (Small Soldiers' Gregory Smith) and Chuck (David Alpay), but not all of them survive. While continuing to flash back in time, in the present day, a young Ulster nationalist Jimmy (Martin McCann) in Belfast finds a ring in the wreckage of a crashed B-17, he is determined to return it to the woman who once owned it, this eventually leads him to Michigan, after he finds out that this woman is Ethel Ann. She reveals a wall that Jack and Chuck boarded up for her back in 1944, it is covered in souvenirs of Teddy, Marie is shocked and angered that her mother was in love with Teddy, not her father Chuck. Ethel Ann travels with Jimmy to Belfast, friend Michael Quinlan (Pete Postlethwaite) finally confesses to her that was he was on the hill when Teddy died, and that his words freed Ethel Ann from her promise to love him forever, he allowed her to make her own choice. Qunilan is tearful telling Ethel Ann he spent 50 years looking for the ring that was lost in the final blast that killed Teddy, and regrets never informing Ethel of Teddy's dying words. Jack joins Ethel Ann in Belfast, he finally admits that he has always loved her, Ethel Ann is finally able to cry and properly grieve, they share a hug, it is implied that this may be the beginning of a romance. Also starring Brenda Fricker as Eleanor Reilly and John Travers as Young Quinlan. MacLaine does fairly well as the older woman, but it is indeed Barton that is more likable as the younger version, Campbell is a little too moral, and the supporting actors are fine in the roles, it is a simple enough story, a secret love story discovered through a simple object, a ring, it is corny and full of sentimentality, but there are parts that you keep you just about engaged, overall not a bad romantic drama. Worth watching, at least once!
Review of Closing the Ring
