Michael Caine

Glenda Jackson

John Standing

Will Fletcher

Laura Marcus

Victor Oshin

Danielle Vitalis

Joe Bone

Donald Sage Mackay

Carlyss Peer

Ian Conningham

Wolf Kahler

Kiera Bell

Elliot Norman

Alex Skarbek

Valerie Sarruf

Graeme Dalling

Simon Darwen

Imman Zaffrani

Bhawna Bhawshar

Huw Edwards

Barack Obama

Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Geoffrey Lumb

Myles Olofin

Ann Queensberry

Jackie Clune

Brennan Reece

Elkie Kristine Jeffery

Deborah Rose Watt

Freyja Jane Barter

Paul Bigley

Isabella Domville

Dan Fredenburgh

Stephen Leask

Bhawna Bhawsar

Hope Jones

Ross Carter

Stuart Cooke

David Evestaff

Jeanette Maskell

Mark Anthony O'Neill

Paul Olding

Peter Theobalds

Oliver Parker

William Ivory

Rob Darnell

Robert Bernstein

Cameron McCracken

Douglas Rae

Eva Yates

Tim Dennison

Paul Biddiss

Lauren Evans

Paul Tothill

Craig Armstrong

Sean Wheelan

Emma Fryer

Nadiya Luthra

Mark Holding

Kristina Börjeson

Christopher Ross

Nicholas Palmer

Jacqueline Fowler

History

Drama

The Great Escaper

Ecosse Films

Filmgate Films

Ingenious Media

Film i Väst

Pathé

BBC Film

France

Sweden

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

This is one of those contemporary, really quite touching, dramas that we won't be able to make for too much longer. It centres around an elderly couple, who have been together for seventy years, and live a semi-independent life in a care home. During a routine chat with their nurses, "Rene" (Glenda Jackson) discovers that her husband "Bernie" (Sir Michael Caine) had wanted to go to the impending celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, but that all the tickets had gone. She makes it pretty clear that if he wants to go, well then he ought to just go! Armed with a only a carrier bag and a few quid, he takes a ferry and heads off on a trip that is going to induce some fairly horrific memories of events in 1945 - which we sparingly see in flashback - but is also going to provide him with a degree of fulfilment and closure on issues that have dogged him ever since. Snag? Well he didn't actually tell anyone he was going, so the home are worried, the police are looking and the media soon get hold of his tale of determination and a degree of celebrity beckons. It's a very characterful story, this, with a gentle chemistry between Jackson and Caine, and also between Caine and his newfound travelling companion "Arthur" (a proud performance from John Standing) as they both have to face their demons past and present. There's plenty of humour - a decent soupçon of sarcasm; along with a spirit of optimism and reconciliation that works well, without drifting into cheesy sentiment, for ninety minutes. It reminded me of the equally poignant BBC drama "A Foreign Field" (1993) and is a good, at times thought-provoking watch.