Date: 2017
Director: Lone Scherfig
Actors/ Characters: Gemma Arterton/ Catrin Cole, Sam Claflin/ Tom Buckley, Bill Nighy/ Ambrose Hilliard
Summary: A former secretary, newly appointed as a scriptwriter for propaganda films, joins the cast and crew of a major production while the Blitz rages around them.
Review
I love films about Britain in WW2, this period in history is just truly inspiring and poignant for me and I love reading and watching anything to do with it so I knew I needed to see Their Finest. I did enjoy this film although it isn't perfect- it's not the most incredible film ever made and it's quite a safe film but honestly sometimes this is the kind of film I enjoy watching and I did enjoy watching this.
I sat for the first half hour of this pretty bored if I am honest. The pacing was slow and the film's opening dragged however once things got going I started to enjoy watching it a lot more.
This film obviously had a big focus on writing and story because of the film's narrative and the fact that Catrin is a script writer. It goes without saying that the writing of the narrative in this film was a really important part of the film. I was really impressed with the film's scriptwriters (Gaby Chiappe (screenplay) and Lissa Evans (original story) ). I loved watching the narrative of the propaganda film and the reality of the characters integrate it was beautiful to see play out on screen. The way that wartime Britain was displayed was also executed really well and I enjoyed seeing how mundane life was affected by the war.
The script was a balance of drama and comedy which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. I did appreciate how the comedy and drama intertwined but some moments when it was used I thought took away from the emotion of the scene. For example the moment in which Ambrose has to identify the body of his agent following an air raid had me almost in tears until a joke was thrown it and disrupted the raw emotion of the scene. I think the writers could have embraced the emotional scenes more rather than shy away from them through the use of humour.
I loved Catrin and Gemma Arterton's performance was spectacular. She brought a great authenticity to her acting that made her character so easy to align with and empathise with. It's a real skill to have an audience truly back you the whole way through a film and I was with Catrin every step of the way through the highs and the lows. Her relationships with the Tom and Ambrose were both hilarious and touching to watch. Catrin was gutsy and independent, I was so happy that she was depicted in such a feminist light throughout the film it was really empowering to watch.
Tom was another great character to watch (and no it wasn't just because Sam Claflin was playing him, although could you blame me if it was?). Character development is something I love to see in any film and I loved watching Tom's development. He was always fun to watch because of his brilliant wit and humour but the moments of compassion and sentimentality were special to see as well. I don't know how I feel about his death if I am honest. I was heartbroken obviously but I can't decide if it was important for the plot or not. On the one hand, including the death of the male love interest is a cheap way of drawing emotion out of the audience but on the other hand, his death was more than just a cheap play. Following Tom's death Catrin was able to find a new meaning in her life and I thought that it acted as a wider symbol for Britain during the war emphasising the sense of carrying on that has become iconic of wartime Britain.
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