Queen and Country

27 years after his award-winning feature Hope and Glory, John Boorman premiered another part of his life at the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes with Queen and Country.

London, 1952, at the beginning of the Korean War. Bill is 19 and is forced to enlist for two years in the British Army. There he meets Percy, a troublemaker with whom he becomes best friends. Together, reflecting an entire generation, they begin to rebel against the flag saluting and question the presence of Britain in Korea. Their rebellion (alongside a newfound interest in girls) promises to get them in plenty of trouble.

It’s a rare and precious thing to have the opportunity to see a warm, funny and distracting movie in Cannes – and to hear an audience laugh in unison is priceless. Queen and Country achieves these qualities and many more. Even if the cast are not equal in their performances, the group dynamic works and they become a troop, helping each other to get the best out of themselves.

The characters are searching for freedom, and their confinement to an army compound or their home island brings them close to claustrophobic breaking point – an idea nearly explained verbatim in a scene depicting a hilarious trial. The costumes and set design allow the viewer to immediately sense the atmosphere of the time, aided by beautiful lighting choices.

Queen and Country is an homage to the young man the director was, to the people he encountered in his life, and most of all to his eternal love : Cinema.

Liloïe Cazorla

The UK release date for Queen and Country is yet to be announced.

Read more reviews from Cannes Film Festival 2014 here.

For further information about the festival, visit the official website here.

Watch the trailer for Queen and Country here: