FILM OF THE WEEK
Military Wives
Cert: 12A; Now showing
Scary heads up, it’s been 23 years since The Full Monty, that British unemployed-menbecome-strippers film that captured so many hearts.
Its director, Peter Cattaneo, hasn’t really hit the same heights since (he was Oscar nominated for The Full Monty) but he has stuck to the genre and here in Military Wives he tells another very English, bonding with a rousing finale story. Unfortunately this time it is to less effect, the film lacks drama or any real depth but it is nonetheless very watchable in a nice, pleasant, unthreatening way.
When their partners head off for a six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan the women left at home on the military base come together to find ways to pass the time. Unwilling but popular organiser Lisa (Sharon Horgan) doesn’t really have a formal plan for activities, something which irks willing but unpopular would-be organiser Kate (Kristin Scott-Thomas). Their husbands are different ranks and that inevitably causes an issue, but so too do their attitudes to life. When someone suggests they set up a choir, the two women’s very different styles become apparent.
The story, written by Rachel Tunnard and Rosanne Flynn, is based on the true story of military wives who enlisted a TV choirmaster, an endeavour so successful it spawned a TV series.
The women give good performances in a mediocre film, but there just isn’t any real tension or drama — you can see the ending coming from the beginning, so it is difficult to get invested.
The dramatic elements — like the stress inherent in someone you love being away and in danger for six months, dealing with that and managing kids through it — are glossed over when they could have given the film a bit more emotional depth. The movie is content just to celebrate the women and their singing, to gloss over the deep stuff and focus on forbearance and stiff upper lips in a lighthearted way.
There’s nothing wrong with that, though the sole emotion the film exhibits feels very manipulative — and in fact it it feels like a very ‘brexit’ film... so perhaps lacks the elements that might really hook an Irish audience.