Their Finest

We went to Red River last night to see Their Finest. It was good. I give it a solid B, although I ate far too many Granite State Chocolate Covered Raisins and feel the effects today. But that's not what I'm writing about.

The movie takes place in 1940s London, during 'The Blitz' as the German bombing of London was called by the British press. A young woman is hired to improve the narrative quality of the female voice in propaganda films. Similar to most vocations during this war, women were thrust into non-traditional jobs because the men were busy killing each other.

The plot is centered on the relationships between the script writers, including our heroine protagonist, the actors and the ministry of propaganda. It is simultaneously light and dark, funny and sad, and portrays the stoic response to the bombings that we so associate with the Brits.

It was enjoyable, although I think I would have written a different ending. And maybe that's the point. War does not make sense in any rational way so why should the stories about war finish with logical conclusions?

The movie is equal parts love story, love endings, propaganda, loss, redemption, loss and awakening. It is also part Rosey the Script Writer, deftly and quite possibly too subtlely reflecting the class differences in an elite, patriarchial society.

I should also mention the propaganda film the team is working on is about the evacuation/rescue of the troops at Dunkirk. There is a significance, although I'm still ruminating on it. Dunkirk, and the colossal incompetence of the field generals leading to it, was a British national embarrassment. But from the ashes of the debacle was born a different story - one of heroism and sacrifice, as a country rallied to the aid of countrymen in distress. It is a remarkable story, soon to have it's own modern-day movie at a theater near you.