Sarah's War (2018) User Reviews

Interesting idea but poorly executed

[KIM_HARRIS · 4/10 · 21 June 2018]

I wouldn't go as far as some reviewers as to say that this film is valueless. There are some interesting ideas, particularly the treatment of single mothers at the time. However the initial plot line is inexplicable and the whole thing seems under-rehearsed and rather amateurish. The acting is rather wooden at times. If comes across as a low budget production, possibly even a student project. It was not a total waste of time spent in watching it but there are certainly plenty of better films to watch.

Awful Cheap and nasty

[moz-26181 · 3/10 · 22 May 2018]

Must have cost just a few quid to make this, in fact ive seen more expensive productions come out of a local school. Acting is woeful, which is a shame because the characters seem likeable. The polystyrene sea mines at least gave me a laugh.Completely unbelievable plot. I continued to watch this film until the end to give it a full chance of redemption. The acting just got worse, in some parts the actors are actually stuttering to find their lines..Watch it for a laugh or as an exercise in how not to make a film.

An awful movie

[whittakermark-24526 · 1/10 · 11 June 2018]

I'm involved in a local am dram group and I can honestly say we could have done this so much better. Wooden expressionless acting, awful sets, and what on earth was the pub scene about? I kept wanting to turn it off but kept giving it a chance to get better. Sorry, but this has got to be the worst film I've ever seen. I should have known when i saw the homemade sea mine! One to avoid I'm afraid, done properly it could have been so much better.

Like a school play.

[couttsjc · 1/10 · 8 June 2018]

This was very poor. Hesitant, expressionless acting. We wondered why anyone had ever presented it as viable drama. I've seen better student shows for charity. We were mesmerised by how bad it was. The Nazi commandeering the wee boat was a joke. The interviews with Sarah at the home, were sticklike. Cringe making stuff: we were embarrassed for them. The children were the best actors in it. This ought never to have reached the light of day - or the dark of night.

Worth the watch

[chrisandnancy-33861 · 7/10 · 1 February 2019]

An interesting story that is slightly predictable. The acting is good and believable.

I thought it was funny

[collioure_bee · 2/10 · 27 October 2019]

Dreadful acting, awful storyline and the filming was terrible too. But I loved the minefield with all of two mines that were so badly paper machéd they were hilarious.

Ignore the high marks, they must be from the actors, crew or friends. No one with any love of film would mark this highly.

A school play or local am drams would have done this better. Like I say, I found it so toe curlingly bad it was funny.

PS school play

[couttsjc · 1/10 · 8 June 2018]

I imagined the children. I don't think I even saw Sarah's one.

The plot had possibilities outwith the abilities of the actors.

Excellent movie

[jeffro-95874 · 9/10 · 29 January 2019]

Not sure about the low rating ,being either a high or low rating,I found this a film great to watch good acting ,all the high reviews say what I would say, except it's a film you can watch and forget about the world around you and also feel you're there too, so go ahead and watch it, I think you'll feel better afterwards 🤗

Worst film Ever!

[rawlie · 1/10 · 22 August 2019]

Everything is poor about this film, acting, directing, script.

Poorly adapted from the original play.

It would be impossible to give a spoiler as the plot is SO transparent.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[ExiledInCali · 1/10 · 3 April 2019]

The acting was minimal to say the least. The characters were boring and uninteresting. The "German" accent was atrocious. Are there no English speaking German actors who could have played the part to give it some credibility? And this was only after 5 minutes. I suspect that if I hung in, I would have sided with the German.

Recommended!

[brianpoconnell2 · 9/10 · 17 April 2019]

An engaging film with a compelling and unfolding storyline.The post-war narrative is particularly illuminating in terms of the social norms of the period.

Fine acting and beautiful photography.

[PaulDVernon · 9/10 · 2 May 2018]

This is a great and authentic looking film from a new Director with a wonderful story following the plight of Sarah, from her brief encounter with a German Naval Officer in WW2 through to a time just after the war. Originally produced as a stage play Brian O'Connell has brought his heart-felt and warming project to film and follows the hardships of a single mother in post war England. This is portrayed through some fine acting from the young lead cast, some beautiful photography and wonderful directing. A beautiful film that will have you captivated from beginning to end.

Gripping

[sjmoss-92936 · 9/10 · 10 December 2022]

I enjoyed every moment of this excellent film.

The actors deliberately under played their rôles in order to keep the characters believable and realistic.

Much of the drama is maintained by camera angles and suggestion. Scissors to murder. Railway lines recalling Anna Karenina's suicide.

Slightly weak final scene of domestic bliss was the nearest to 'syruppy" that the plot came. It seemed a letdown rather than leaving the ending to the watcher's own interpretation after the kiss and only smile from Sarah!

The Jobsworth was all too realistic and his lack of humanity was typical of the post war prejudices of any perceived breach of the self imposed moral codes of the period.

The filming in black and white evoked the films (Brief Encounter etc.) of the heyday of the late '40s.

The dying scene with the music of Pachelbel's Canon was especially evocative.

very watchable

[jcs-53848 · 9/10 · 11 August 2018]

A good, immensely watchable film. I thought the story was interesting, clear and believable (and differed in a few respects from the original play), the acting was on the whole very good and many of the scenes were charmingly filmed. The film explores a number of gritty themes, including the loss of loved ones to war, exploitation of women in the workplace, and the harsh attitude of society towards unmarried mothers in the mid 20th century.

Unearthing a little gem of a drama

[danielmichaelpope · 8/10 · 21 August 2018]

I found this Film to be engaging, thoughtful and well paced, although a little slow at the beginning of the film, you start to see that this is the point of it, to be slowly pulled into the unfolding drama of one persons life through the catastrophe of War, showing the ramifications war on innocent individual, whilst being being immersed in the everyday prejudices that occurred for people that were trying to get on with their lives.

As the film progress , the pace picks up and takes us further into the depths of Sarah's turbulent life, surrounded by such idyllic settings, her life spirals out of control..

The film is beautifully shot, with great attention paid to the period look, in terms of set design and costumes, with good cinematography throughout and a strong cast, who all give subtle yet powerful performances.

When everything goes against you, nothing could turn your way, or could it?

[clanciai · 9/10 · 18 December 2022]

Of course, our modern age, dominated by mass media entertainment of lots of sex and violence and above all action, would have little understanding for a film like this, reminiscent of the fine nouvelle vague films of France 60 years ago in its total lack of lustre and make believe, in telling bluntly the story of an unmarried mother and her plight after the war when no one could afford to treat such a person gently. It is in style very much like the fine ground-breaking English films of the late 50s of Tony Richardson, Karel Reisz and those fellows in its grey shade of absolute realism in all its naked bleakness, but there is drama in it as well. The first part about the desperate German hijacking a boat for getting out to join a submarine is nothing less than a war thriller, which then jumps three years to follow up the main characters and see what happened to them. The style of the entire film is documentary, these cases did occur, and it is a very fine work to search them out and lift them up. Not everyone is a s bad as they seem, it's a kind of redemption play, and life is not always as quite hopeless as it seems. When Sarah in the end sits by the railway waiting for a train, thinking of throwing herself under it like an Anna Karenina, the prospect is too real to be denied, the last thing you expect is any kind of miracle. That's not what happens, but what happens is at least totally unexpected.