User Reviews

Maybe it's just because of my love for history, but I really enjoyed this movie. I can understand why some may not, since it has a sort of anti-ending and very little actual 'plot.' The film is simply the portrayal of daily life for a London family--a collection of character subplots, basically.

It doesn't sound like much, but the film's strength is its characters. Besides the main little boy, there's the overzealous father, the sexually-liberated teenage sister, a hilarious grandpa, a gang of far-from-innocent little boys, and others.

Overall, watching this movie is like stepping back in time and sneaking a peek into everyday life.

John Boorman seems to be telling us this story about his own experience about the first days of the Blitz, something that might well be the case because he must have been Bill's age when WWII broke. Mr. Boorman, working with his own material creates an accurate account of what Londoners lived through that time, in vivid detail.

We are introduced to the Rohan family, at the beginning of the story. They seem to be a typical English family of the time. When the conflict starts, Clive enlists and goes away, leaving Grace, his wife and the children, Dawn, Bill and Sue to fend for themselves. The Rohan's neighborhood suffers a lot of damage during the days of the Blitz, as homes are destroyed, even the Rohan's is badly damaged. With dignity and valor the Rohans survive the worst, although the experience seems to have been forever etched in their minds, especially young Bill, who is at the center of all that goes on.

Mr. Boorman gets excellent performances all around. Notable is young Sebastian Rice-Edwards as Bill. This young actor seems to be a natural, as well as the other young children in the picture. Sarah Miles and David Hayman, as the parents, are also quite good. Sammi Davis, the teen aged Dawn discovers love and makes us care about her character. Ian Bannen, Derrick O'Connor and Susan Woolridge are seen in minor roles.

Mr. Boorman creates a nostalgic look about the horrible experience families went through during those days.

Autobiographical film by John Boorman who describes enjoyable vignettes about recollections from his boyhood . Seen through the young boy's eyes , WWII originates a playground of memory to collect and wild imaginings brought to life in which a family battling through Nazi planes , Blitz , fire and blow up . It is starred by a nine year old boy called Bill (Sebastian Rice) as he grows up in London during the blitz of World War 2 . For a kid , this time in history was more of an adventure , a total upheaval of order , limitation and rules . As his mother (Sarah Miles) must deal with the awakening of her adolescent daughter (Sammi Davis) keep her children in line , balance food rations and attempt to shelter against bombings on the suburban street . Meanwhile ,Bill and his friends prowl the ruins and debris of bombed houses and when occurs bombings they run to bomb shelter .

A flavoursome semi-autobiographical project by the same filmmaker whose recollections come true as seen through the eyes of director John Boorman, who also wrote and produced . There are rollickling portraits of the family members , the bands of young boys are well-drawn and exploring the liberating effect of the war on the women left behind . Interesting and agreeable screenplay , including Boorman's own dialog . It contains a portrait of the lower middle classes battling through suburban semis , good jokes , chuckles and some scene rings horrendously actual , but in other hand other images seem unreal . The highlights of the movie are the joy when a rocket blows up the school and scenes dealing with the gang of boys . It's a fine companion to ¨Forbidden games¨ by Rene Clement , ¨Empire of sun¨ by Steven Spielberg , and ¨Au Revoir Les Enfants¨ by Louis Malle ; all of them dealing with WWII from memories of kiddies . Good British cast who plays with relish as Sarah Miles as the mummy , David Hayman as daddy , Sammi Davis as the feisty daughter , Derrick O'Connor as Mac , Susan Wooldridge as Molly and the French Jean-Marc Barr as the boyfriend . Special mention to Ian Bannen as the grandfather who steals the show as a rogue veteran . Furthermore , Boorman's two children as Katrine and Charly Boorman . Colorful and evocative cinematography by excellent French cameraman Philippe Rousselot . Evocative and stirring musical score by Peter Martin .

The motion picture was well directed by John Boorman . He's a real professional filmmaking from the 6os , though sparsely scattered and giving various classics . John started as an assistant direction and his friendship with Lee Marvin allowed him to work in Hollywood as ¨Point Blank¨ (1967) and ¨Hell in the Pacific¨ (1968) from where he returned to the UK and directed ¨Leo¨ (1970) , a rare Sci-Fi titled ¨Zardoz¨ (1974) or the ¨failure Exorcist II¨ (1977). His films are without exception among the most exciting visually in the modern cinema . He became famous for Excalibur (1981), the best of them , ¨Emerald forest¨ (1985) with a ecologist denounce included and his autobiographic story ¨Hope and Glory¨ (1987) and which brought him another Academy Award Nomination after ¨Deliverance¨ . Rating : Better than average . Wholesome watching .

John Boorman is impossible to categorize. From his spaced out ZARDOZ to DELIVERANCE to EXCALIBUR, this wildly ambitious director hasn't met a subject he's afraid to tackle. Here, the film maker delves into his past, delivering the story of a boy growing up in WWII England. Directed in a style that is nostalgic and innocent, HOPE AND GLORY displays a brighter side of human conflict. Watching the picture, it is obvious Boorman approached this highly personal material with the utmost of care. Nonetheless, if you're looking for a heavy drama, this is not the place. Many scenes (if you're not in the mood for them) can become a bit difficult. In other words, you're feeling as if you're watching someone's home movie. However, this should not detract from the talent of a true cinematic master, John Boorman. We love you, John Boy. Give us more!

I think those criticizing the light tone of the war scenes are missing the point. The story is told through the eyes of a boy (semi-autobio of John Boorman, the director), and is based on his recollections of what happened to his family and neighbors during the start of World War II.

It's a difficult film to describe since there is no real plot, just a series of funny, touching, sad and humorous vignettes in how the boy and his family coped with what he personally thought was a great adventure. In many ways, it reminded me of the way EMPIRE OF THE SUN was told from the boy's viewpoint, although that film grappled with much darker themes.

Here the accent is not on tragedy but on the human spirit and survival during a difficult time on the homefront.

Boorman wrote and directed it with skill and the very British cast is excellent. Well worth seeing for another perspective on WWII, British style.

Undoubtably one of the best movies about "the home front" of WWII, Hope and Glory effectively recalls the child's perspective of living amidst the rubble of the Blitz. The film's strength, in my view, is how people tried their best to maintain their normal lives and customs as their world crumbled around them, both literally and figuratively.

The young man playing the central character does a fine job of bringing Boorman's childhood to life. The natural ability of children to adjust to change (but not without consequences) is brilliantly depicted. The "gang" sequences were not only funny but also felt remarkably true, especially the collection of plundered booty and scrap war material. It's just the type of mischief you'd expect from letting the boys run wild through this type of damage.

Sarah Miles and Sammi Davis are excellent as the mother and older sister to the central character; their interaction shows the damage war does to relationships and moral values. The highlight for me was the grandfather, however. The gentleman stole every scene in which he appears. The final scenes of the movie show his delight in his grandson in such a novel and moving way that it became almost the film's highlight.

I worked with a man who lived in London during the war, when he would have been the same age as the boy in this story. He told me that he considered this movie the best one he'd ever seen on World War II and recommended that I watch it. I've never regretted it. Thanks, Jack.

Hope and Glory is one of my favourite films and gets a rare airing tonight on satellite's FX UK channel at 9pm. I saw it 18 years ago on its release and numerous times since and it still takes a place in my fav. top 10 of all time. The settings are truly wonderful, the humour as British as it gets and a performance by Ian Bannen that shows what good British acting is all about. His naming of former love conquests at the family Christmas party is one of cinemas funniest pieces of comedy. The cast is perfect and the whole film is a joy from beginning to end. It was deservedly nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and although failed to win would have been my choice. Highly recommended.

Since I first saw it, 15 years ago, a little film in a little theater, I have regarded John Boorman's recollections of life as a grade-schooler during "The Blitz" as astonishing. Over the years I've used the movie to bring to life the very points that Anna Freud makes in her diaries of the "War Nurseries" she ran in Hampstead. While the movie is always entertaining, it nevertheless shows the effects on kids and families of life at home during a war: the separations, the losses, the physical damage, the inflammation of aggressive impulses in normal kids, the loosening of parental control over adolescents, the dropping of the curtains we use to keep kids from seeing more than they ought to. The film is wonderfully English, with customary attention to period detail, and a great collection of eccentric and memorable secondary characters. You've just got to see the geography lesson, featuring a middle-aged martinet school-marm who whacks away at a world map, using her pointer to punctuate her lesson on the vastness of England's pre-war empire. I have seen this movie on video, and can say that it translates well to the small screen. In fact it was created for British TV. See it. You'll laugh. You'll cry. And don't tell anyone--You'll learn something, too.

WWII Britan is shown through the eyes of 8 year old Billy (Sebastian Rice Edwards). His father leaves to fight and he's left with his two sisters and mother. Based on director John Boorman's life. Sounds depressing but it's not. The kids back then treated the war as if it were a big game. They would go through bombed out houses looking for stuff to take---or break and made games with all the stuff they found.

There's really no story--it just follows Billy and his family through the course of the war and all the incidents that happened. The 1930-40s setting is captured perfectly and (I've heard) accurately portrays life in Britain at that time--through a child's eyes with a comic twist. The acting is all very good--especially Edwards, Sarah Miles (as the mother) and Sammi Davis (as a rebellious daughter).

This film is leisurely paced and some viewers might find it dull but others will find it absolutely fascinating--showing how an average British family made it through WWII. I give it a 9.

Life in London during the 'Blitz' as see through a young boy's eyes. Directed by John Boorman, not a lot happens in this war-time family drama but the story and characters are interesting and some of the imagery is excellent. Sebastian Rice-Edwards is very good as the 10-year old who finds both excitement and fear as the German bombers pound the city. I found the scenes with the gang of kids a bit off-putting - I suspect that combing through wreckage of people's homes for valuables would be considered looting, otherwise I enjoyed the film.

There is something so distinctly British about the Home Front during World War II. Perhaps it was the movies that portrayed the typically 'stiff upper-lipped' Brits holding their heads high and getting on with their everyday lives, not letting the fact that the country was being destroyed by German bombs get them down. And so came John Boorman's semi-autobiographical account of a child growing up during the Blitz, trying to capture that old-school spirit, and giving a fresh perspective from a particularly naive child's point of view.

The film follows the Rowan family whose youngest child Bill (Sebastian Rice-Edwards) finds the frequent air raids and destruction as exciting as it is terrifying. His sister Dawn (Sammi Davis) falls for a Canadian solider who is soon called back into action. His father Clive (David Hayman) volunteers for the army and heads off to fight until he's deemed too old and supports the war effort from an administrative angle. And struggling to hold the whole family together is the mother Grace (Sarah Miles), who in her loneliness seeks out the comfort of Clive's best friend who she had feelings for back before she got together with Clive.

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, I was expecting a definitive account of Britain during WWII. What I witnessed was a badly acted, amateurish and poorly scripted film that I found reminiscent of an ITV drama with a slightly bigger budget that normal. I was genuinely surprised, as I'd heard nothing but good things about it. It felt that one scene led to the next without any control or idea of where it was heading. The relationship between Dawn and the Canadian soldier is every bit as predictable and tedious as you would expect, and I failed believe any of it. The third act of the film moves the action to the granddad's countryside home, and meanders there for a long time without much happening at all.

The film is also guilty of some truly terrible acting. Decent child actors are always hard to find, but Rice-Edwards doesn't even remotely convince as an actor. He delivers his lines with a rigid blankness and is not able to channel his character's emotions through to the audience. And the late Ian Bannen playing Grandfather George suffers from a bad script and bad direction. He is meant to be the lovably grouchy old man, but stomping around muttering inaudible grumblings over and over and over again is neither funny or convincing.

I'll stop the moaning there I think, because there were things I also liked about the film, it's just that the negatives irritated me so much that they overshadowed the positives. A stray weather balloon causing havoc amongst the rooftops whilst the family watch with glee, and the Canadian solider pulling faces through the family window while they stand straight-faced listening to 'God Save The Queen' are a couple of the rather wonderful and funny moments of the film. And the forbidden and potential love affair between Grace and her husband's best friend seen through the eyes of a maturing Bill is cleverly explored only in glimpses.

Overall an okay movie, which I will no doubt watch again in a few years to see if I've just missed something, giving the overwhelmingly positive critical response the film received. But for now I'll stick to my guns.

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Film-maker John Boorman's (Oscar nominated for writing and directing) semi-autobiographical account of growing up in London during the early-1940s is a wonderful sight to behold as a 9-year-old boy (Sebastian Rice-Edwards) looks at German blitz air-raids as fantastical and interesting occurrences rather than tragic happenings. But the youngster does know enough to realize that the country is in turmoil as his father (David Hayman) is out fighting in World War II, his mother (Sarah Miles) is noticeably distraught and his older sister (Sammi Davis) is having a love affair with a Canadian soldier (Jean-Marc Barr). As all this happens though Rice-Edwards and little sister Geraldine Muir just behave as if nothing was wrong. Their innocence and lack of total understanding allows them to enjoy their youth even though the world around them is in total chaos. Sometimes a lack of understanding can lead to happiness and wonder anyway. Also along for the ride is Hayman's brother (Derrick O'Connor), a man who has always secretly loved Miles (and vice versa), and Miles' eccentric father (scene-stealer Ian Bannen). Boorman grew up in London during the heated years of World War II and it is apparent that he remembers his childhood years not as a time of horror and despair, but as a time of love and lifetime discovery. This is definitely his finest picture (I never did get much out of "Deliverance" and he plummeted to new lows with "The Exorcist II: The Heretic") as he uses quietly effective characters and old-time movie-making principles to create a truly endearing motion picture masterpiece. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

I don't have anything terribly deep to say here other than that I absolutely loved this movie when I saw it in the theater at age 11, but having re-watched it now at 29 I don't like it as much. The film is a series of sometimes funny, sometimes touching, sometimes sad vignettes, but there's no "story" to it... it seems to be 100% character study and no plot. In fact, most of the characters show little or no change at all throughout the movie. While it does have some entertaining and sweet moments, in general I'd say it's not the amazing film I thought it was when I was a kid. Perhaps I'd appreciate it more if I was English.

The film's central conceit -- the Blitz was a blast, if you were a young boy -- wears a little thin after two hours, and the tone is a bit overcute, especially toward the end. That said, it's an affecting and unusual view of wartime. And as an attempt to capture childhood on film, it's up there with "The 400 Blows." I treasure the clear-eyed view of adolescent sexuality, the unsentimentality toward family and death, and the beautiful detail. And Sarah Miles and David Hayman, absolutely perfect casting.

John Boorman gave us films like "Deliverance," "Excalibur," and "The Emerald Forest," but this is his finest. He shows us what war feels like to a nine-year old kid who views his family and others around him in all their naivete, pluck, heroism, pettiness, and humanity. Just because World War II is on and the neighborhood is being bombed by the Germans doesn't mean that people aren't still people. And while their lives are deeply disrupted, kids still play and get into mischief. The period recreation is terrific as are the performances, especially Ian Bannen as the cantankerous grandfather. Parts of this movie are laugh out loud funny (favorite line: "Thank you, Adolf!"), others gently touching. One of my favorite films of all time. It merits re-watching.

War does odd things to people. And by people I mean not only the participants of the war, but also the spectators. The direct onlookers of war will react in all sorts of misunderstood ways. Perhaps the group with the oddest reaction would be the children. They have so little insight into the true gravity of war that it becomes a game to them without the proper understanding. This is what Hope and Glory centers on. It's the story of Bill, a young boy living in London during World War II. He and his family are surviving in the midst of the incessant German air raids of the city. They must all cope with the destruction around them and it all plays out very offbeat and awkwardly lighthearted. I was a little put off from this film and very underwhelmed for its entirety, save a scene here and there.

First off, I wasn't that impressed by any of the characters. They all seemed to be pretty uninteresting or just annoying. The family consists of the mother, who is not a very likable or memorable character. She serves her purpose to the themes of the film and thats about it. The father is not present for a lot of the film because he joins the military. This happens to make him one of the more interesting characters. He has an underdeveloped relationship with his son, Bill, who is the main character of the film. His character is intriguing because he and the other boys he is friends with encompass the entire meaning of the film which is war through the eyes of a child. The other two children are to girls. The older sister is incredibly obnoxious and I never once cared for anything that happened with her. The younger sister doesn't do or say much and seems to be another character that serves her purpose and moves on from there. There are other characters who spring up in the film and all of them further the plot in different ways, but I couldn't emotionally invest in any of their relationships.

The plot of this film has a lot of potential and could have been really interesting, but it seemed to miss the mark a lot. There were moments in the film where I saw where the director was going and I could make out the point he was trying to make. Some of these statements on war and childhood had the potential to be quite profound, and with some fleshing out, they really are. But the execution just wasn't quite good enough to really spike my interest during the film. The film also seemed to drag a lot as it went on. Towards the end I started to wonder where any of this was actually going, and whether we were leading to some actual climax or not. Then the film ended suddenly and without any kind of climax or resolution, leaving me underwhelmed.

I wish I could have liked Hope and Glory more but I could never get into it. It was too easy to lose interest in and not a whole lot happened to keep the film lively. The characters weren't engaging enough to keep that dynamic of the film very entertaining either. Hope and Glory has a lot going for it and could have been a lot better. I can see why some people would like this film a lot, and they have every right to. I myself didn't get much out of this film. Plus, it's not really my cup of tea.

As someone who was 9yrs old at the start of the war and lived in the London suburb of Southall I found the film unbelievably accurate and it was like watching my very own experiences all over again. From having my sister and I 's evacuation to relatives in the U.S. canceled at the last minute because a previous ship from the London area was torpedoed, to the scrambling over bomb sites and collecting shrapnel it was uncannily similar. I was playing with my lead soldiers out on the pavement when that first test Siren went off and we were all herded under a bed downstairs. Lead soldiers lost their appeal with all the excitement of dog fights over head , near misses from bombs that flattened nearby houses and the joy from us all ( as in the film) school was canceled when an unexploded bomb landed in the playground. I was not lucky enough to have a rich uncle who lived on the Thames though,so when the bombing got a bit too much we were sent off to Bristol with our relatives there until Bristol started getting pounded just as much as London.Seen the film 4 times now with last night's showing on Foxtel 27/6/2013 always a joy to watch for the memories. Since first posting my review I have read all the others and was a little surprised at the negative comments of some. Possibly the film is viewed a lot more favourably by the English, especially if from that era as I was. But I can assure everyone that I cannot fault the accuracy of most of the events and the attitude of most people coping with it all. Of course there was death and destruction all around, but as long as it wasn't personally you , humour helped everyone cope, which surely is not just a British trait ? The film was supposed to be through a boys eyes after all, nit picking a film that was as true a recreation of how life was for an ordinary family in war time , just beats me. As in the film, I as another 9yr old, never at any time felt the fear that my parents and other adults were probably fighting in their own way. I was just caught up in all the excitement part of it. I have to get a D.V.D. copy of the film now to give to my Grand children, and say " That's what it was like." So true to how it was.!

Bill is your average young boy, living in London with his parents and two sisters. His should be a conventional childhood but it is September 1939 and the UK is at war with Germany. In the next few years Bill will grow up with the fear and devastation of war, but also some fond memories.

An original interesting take on the childhood experiences drama, showing a boy growing up in wartime. Written and directed by John Boorman (Deliverance, Excalibur, Hell in the Pacific, among others), the film largely draws upon Boorman's own experiences of growing up in England during WW2.

Wonderfully bitter-sweet in how we see the fear, tragedy, disruption and devastation of war on one hand and the innocence and adventures of youth and the making of childhood memories on the other. Some very funny scenes and also some tragic ones, all mixed in with the usual day to day goings-on of life.

While it is interesting and engaging, it does lack focus and a profound ending. I don't mind films that are about the journey rather than the destination but this did feel like it needed something at the end to tie everything together. There's a few sub-plots going on that ultimately don't add anything to the film: a good wrap-up was sorely needed.

This semi-biographical movie from John Boorman is beautifully done and takes me back to my very similar childhood in England during WWII. As I watched it, I felt transported back in time to that wonderful world of make belief that became more real than the Blitz and kept us all sane in a world gone mad.

When 'ze Germans' inaugurated the Blitz on the last fortress of the European free world, Churchill laid the cards fairly quickly promising nothing but "blood, toil, tears and sweat" to his fellow countrymen. And that's precisely what you will NOT get from John Boorman's "Hope and Glory": a recollection of his memories as a young boy during the Blitz and a series of family vignettes that make the film closer to Fellini's "Amarcord" than any World War 2 drama. There's indeed a great deal of fun, laughs, joy and even sex (whether you consider adult's basic needs or the awakening of a young boy on the little spices of life)... and occasionally, you'll get some bombings and explosions, mainly featured as backdrop events.

"Hope and Glory" might surprise viewers who have ingurgitated so many WW2 epics they would experience the first act with the certainty that there's a catch, that all these laughs wouldn't last for long and we just have to wait for the second one to witness or learn the heartbreaking death of one family member ... but Boorman did pick the lighthearted angle and it's so seldom used that it elevates "Hope and Glory" to an unsuspected level of charm and enjoyability. It's disconcerting at first but once you've got the notion that the film isn't interested in making you weep, you enjoy its lightness and capability to make you forget about the war, which is an act of resistance on its own... so in a certain way, we get back to the good old 'stiff upper lip' spirit after all.

The story centers on the Rohans: an ordinary middle-class family composed of the father Clive (David Hayman), his wife Grace (Sarah Miles with an oddly sensual maturity) and their children Billy (Sebastian Rice-Edward), the big sister Dawn (Sammi Davis) and little Sue (Geraldine Muir). Billy narrates the event through the perspective of a little boy who didn't let war destroy the one childhood he had. When the newsreel in the theater announces the war's imminence, the kids in the audiences don't care and are only waiting for "The Lone Ranger", 'the real deal', to begin. The narration has that truth-to-life quality you can find in other gems such as "A Christmas Story" or "Radio Days". Later, the narrator says he's capable to remember the start of the war like we'd remember September 11 or baby-boomers Kennedy's Assassination. After even when things get serious after the phoney war, the kids take the war all in stride and carry on as if their childhood was their stiff upper lip. (Of course, it would have been a whole different story if one of the bombs hit their house but the film isn't interested in melodramas.)

What makes "Hope and Glory" so interesting is that the family members are played like average people with average needs, daily antiheroes, Clive joins the army but comes back freezing to death and throwing his uniform because he was too old when the training stopped, Grace befriends Mac (Derrick O'Connor) and there's a subplot that he might have been the one she loved before marrying Clive out of necessity and it seems that Dawn, the girl who discovers her own sexual impulses might follow the same path, and yes, even the Blitz wouldn't prevent the mother and daughter to have thir little records to settle. Billy, meanwhile, collects shrapnels after the bombings, plays with his friends in a destroyed house and there's a scene involving a girl who's just lost her mother and what she does in exchange of jewellery isn't funny but Boorman treats it in a sort of matter-of-factly "all's fair in love and war" way.

"Hope and Glory" shows us that war has an effect of children and it seems rather natural that they would behave that way, and in fact that children remain children is a great victory in itself. Another subplot involves Jean-Marc Barr as Bruce, a Canadian soldier who falls in love with Dawn and creates the kind of situation that make marriage a necessity. The film is actually made of little moments that are so odd and exuberant they can't not be authentic. After a speech from the king where everyone keeps a straight face, I absolutely loved the comment about his stuttering and that their solemnity was only the sign of their agonizing patience. Another scene involves an argument about whether or not they should eat German jam, the arrest of a German pilot, the wink he gave Dawn and the hilarious women's precipitation to get the silk from the parachute. Another well-written scene involves women talking about cheating and you can tell the mother is turned on. The sexual heat is so omnipresent in this film that it's no wonder there was a baby-boom generation after.

Then the film shifts to a second part set in a rural farm occupied by the histrionic grandfather George (Ian Bannen) and Grandma (Annie Leon) and in fact these scenes with their bucolic charm almost makes you forget that there is a war going on and I wonder if, after all, this isn't the right feeling, it's not like everyone woke up every day thinking of the war. Ian Bannen gives the film its energy and and you can tell he was a sort of Churchillian influence on his son who was raised by a rather Nevillian father. Still, he learned the art of the googly from the two figures.

Overall, this is a very well-shot, well-written and agreeable film that rings a certain truth about the power of children to find within the chaos of war, a little breech to get a few glimpses on adulthood. It comes to a point where the saddest moment for Billy isn't when the house burns but because his lead soldats have melted, quite an eloquent irony!

Don't bother with this movie. From a talented but wildly inconsistent Boorman and a good cast comes a poorly written, directed, acted, unrealistic, predictable and sappy movie. No matter what bad things happen to this middle class family in a London suburb at the start of WWII, they always come out smiling and happy.

To be honest, there are hints at some depth to the story, but they never come to fruition: a teenage daughter's coming of age and related escapades; an unhappy marriage; etc. If you're interested in some fluff about WWII England and don't want realism in any form, you might enjoy this slice of life from the view of a young boy. Otherwise, don't bother.