When Britain declares war on Germany on 1st September 1939, everything changes for Billy Rowan (Sebastian Rice-Edwards) and his family. His father Clive (David Hayman) signs up, leaving his mother Grace (Sarah Miles) struggling to come to terms with her new circumstances. Meanwhile, his older sister Dawn (Sammi Davis) gets involved with a Canadian soldier (Jean-Marc Barr). For Billy, the war is a thrilling adventure that excites and troubles him at the same time.
The details are beautifully observed. Billy joins a gang of boys who go through the bomb wreckage taking delight in breaking things. His grandfather (Ian Bannen) is appealingly eccentric, and his role in a game of cricket is one of the highlights. Most moving is probably the moment when one of the children loses a parent in the bombings, only for the other children to leap on this piece of information as valuable gossip/currency to exchange. It seems inevitable that the film is semi-autobiographical. I especially like the way it presents the strange freedoms that the war offers – suddenly the old rules no longer apply – but doesn’t sentimentalise or romanticise the horrors either.
As good a film about WWII and its effects as any I have seen.
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