November 13, 2006
It’s tricky making films about the first world war. Our collective imagination doesn’t go much beyond the trenches, with stiff upper-lipped officers bearing up manfully in terrified anticipation of ‘going over the top’. It’s also difficult to disassociate your film from people’s memories of Blackadder goes Forth.
Fifth Circle, a short film directed and produced by Nicholas Pink, doesn’t quite overcome these difficulties.
It starts with a young medical officer Captain Scott, played by Hiriam Bleetman, devotedly nursing an even younger, injured soldier. Once the soldier is asleep, another officer arrives, and announces that the injured soldier will be taking part in an attack the next day.
The second officer, played convincingly by Iain Potter, seems to be the heart of the film. He has been numbed by seeing so much death, and has a strange psychological reason for remaining voluntarily at the front. But these, and other interesting ideas are only touched upon very briefly, and what we are left with feels clichéd and slightly confusing.
It’s also quite stagey, with only the nicely-edited final scene feeling cinematic.
The only great film about WW1 I have seen is Gallipoli, made by the Australian director Peter Weir. It has a simplicity and emotional impact that Fifth Circle lacks.
Fifth Circle, a short film directed and produced by Nicholas Pink, doesn’t quite overcome these difficulties.
It starts with a young medical officer Captain Scott, played by Hiriam Bleetman, devotedly nursing an even younger, injured soldier. Once the soldier is asleep, another officer arrives, and announces that the injured soldier will be taking part in an attack the next day.
The second officer, played convincingly by Iain Potter, seems to be the heart of the film. He has been numbed by seeing so much death, and has a strange psychological reason for remaining voluntarily at the front. But these, and other interesting ideas are only touched upon very briefly, and what we are left with feels clichéd and slightly confusing.
It’s also quite stagey, with only the nicely-edited final scene feeling cinematic.
The only great film about WW1 I have seen is Gallipoli, made by the Australian director Peter Weir. It has a simplicity and emotional impact that Fifth Circle lacks.