Wartime heroism, minus the bravado.
Set on Jersey during the German occupation of the Channel Islands, wartime drama Another Mother's Son is a tale of real-life heroism that has no truck with melodramatic bravado. Yet the film’s low-key approach turns out to be quite stirring all the same.
Jenny Seagrove brims with humane decency and defiant resolve as shopkeeper Louisa Gould, who shelters a young Russian prisoner (Julian Kostov) for two years after he escapes from a slave labour camp on the island, while John Hannah, Amanda Abbington and Ronan Keaton display similar pluck as the family members who aid her.
The script and direction are a tad too close to Sunday-night telly. But Louisa’s sober exploits prove increasingly gripping as the story wears on. The film is very good, too, at showing how resentful neighbours in a claustrophobic community such as this can ultimately be as dangerous as jackbooted Nazis.
Certificate 12A. Runtime 103 mins. Director Christopher Menaul
Another Mother's Son available on DVD & Digital HD from Signature Entertainment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKc3GYRlFFM
