Testament of Youth 2014

     This film is based on a novel by Vera Brittain and Shirley Williams published in 1933.  The book is an account of Vera’s experiences from childhood through 1925 and is 661 pages.  The film begins with Vera at 21 years old and she enrolls at Somerville College, Oxford.  It is the beginning of WWI and this changes her plans, she begins her studies but she leaves at the end of her first year.  Her brother Edward, her fiancé Roland and two close friends are fighting for Britain.  She feels she needs to do something for the war and she becomes a nurse working with wounded British soldiers.  Later, she was sent to Malta and then to France to work in the hospitals near the front.  Some of the soldiers she worked with on the front were Germans.

     Vera and her pals had so many dreams but so did many others who enlisted in the war.  It was thought this would be a quick war and they would all return to their lives.  Everyone had so much promise but then the sadness from the war overtakes everything.  Vera suffered from PTSD afterwards but this condition would not be diagnosed until many years later.  4 ½* (I really liked this movie) 

129 min, Bio directed by James Kent with Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Taron Egerton, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Joanna Scanlan, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Redford, Nicholas Farrell, Daisy Waterstone.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3 ½*,Amazon 4.2* out of 5* with 173 reviews.

Special Note:  WWI lasted from July 28, 1914 until November 11, 1918.  For the British Empire 8,904,467 forces were mobilized, killed were 908,371, wounded 2,090,212, prisoners and missing 191,652 with total casualties 3,190,235 and 35.8% of forces.  Most deaths were caused by disease, lack of knowledge about treating wounds and infection plus penicillin was not discovered until 1920.