A Foreign Field

Although made by the BBC, frustratingly this hasn't been released on DVD in the UK and strangely never repeated on the BBC. A story of ordinary veterans returning to the scene of extraordinary events that had a lasting effect on their lives. All seven leads play their roles fantastically well but undoubtedly the star is Alec Guinness with a six word performance that mesmerises. It is very British in it's restraint and of course excels at pathos. I'm not a crier but I find it hard not to let a tear or six escape while watching this. Never was a jam jar put to better use. Now for god's sake, BBC, release it on DVD in the UK!

I first saw this when it aired on television, over here in England, with a rather muted fanfare. We were politely made aware that it was to be shown and (the trailer was very gentlemanly) the viewer should watch the film, should you so wish.

I did. Guinness, McKern, Moreau and Bacall tempted me. At first, and I dread to say this, the double act of McKern and the character Guinness played made me think this was going to simply be a comic treat. I was wrong, but that isn't to say that the humour doesn't hit the mark every single time. The script draws you in and strips away, delicately, your defences and you laugh with the characters in such a way that the little tragedies that begin to appear have you feel something very real, in that special place you have deep inside that is normally reserved for close family and friends.

In the end I was, and still do ever since (no matter how hard I sometimes think I'll try not to), end up watching the credits with tears streaming down my face and smiling through them at a little, beautifully placed jam jar.

I subscribe to netflix and rented A Foreign Field from them. As a Brit now living and working in Florida I knew the movie would probably be good as it was a BBC production. What a great movie, one of the best I've seen for a long time. I just wish my father could have watched it with me, unfortunately he passed away a few years ago. Dad was a WWII vet and told us many "a war story" as he put it when we were kids.

I rate this film on par with 'Das Boot'- 'Paths of Glory'-'Bridge On The River Kwai' as a statement on the absurdity of war. Thank you BBC for a very memorable and moving movie experience.

Gordon Archer

"A Foreign Field" is an odd film in many ways. It is a film about war, but not a war film. It has a touching, brilliant performance by Sir Alec Guiness, but nearly a silent one. It has a cast of stars, solid actors all, but not a bit of glamor. It is the story of elderly veterans returning to Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day. It is told with humor and pathos, with wit, subtlety and with an unsparing and unsentimental eye for the flaws of real human beings. There is a bit of a twist ending, but neither shocking nor entirely unguessable. My father, a veteran of many invasions, cried when he saw it. That is a greater tribute to this film than anything I can say about it.

The setting is Normandy, where a group of D-Day veterans, two British and one American, are returning for the 50th anniversary of the invasion. This is a movie for anyone who loves to watch great acting, with an all-star cast playing seemingly ordinary people, each with his or her own extraordinary spark. The late, great Sir Alec Guiness, whose career was made largely on his impeccable gift of speech, here plays a man practically mute. Leo McKern, of "Rumpole" fame, incarnates a crusty old Brit with his inimitable sparkle and complexity. Lauren Bacall plays her part with understated grace, her aged but still vivid beauty enhancing the enigma of her presence in this group--a little mystery that is revealed in the poignant final scene. Jeanne Moreau plays an elderly floozy whose wartime favours still bulk understandably large in the fond memories of these old men. The high point of film for me was her singing of "La Vie en Rose" in the middle of a crowded restaurant--unforgettable!