Movie Number 8 of 2024
The Movie: The Great Escaper
The Cinema: Hoyts Victoria Gardens
Stars: 4
There are many sad things about this movie which leave me grieving, the biggest being that this will probably be one of Michael Caine's last movies. At 91, his days of acting are nearly beyond him. His co-star, Glenda Jackson passed away six months ago.
Regardless, this is a glorious British tale and definitely worth a look. It falls very much into the take your parents category - especially, if like me, your step-dad is ex-forces and your mum is the spitting image of Glenda Jackson. And that your parents are aging. You'll get it.
The Great Escaper is one of those quintessential English tales, where a plucky bloke won't be told no.
Bernie Jordan (Michael Caine) and his wife Rene (Glenda Jackson) are in aged care in the South of England. Although their bodies are failing them, their minds are still sharp. When Bernie is told that he's missed his chance to go on a guided visit, he ups the anti and "escapes" from the home, taking a taxi and a ferry across to France. At the time this made the papers, with people trying to find Bernie, who just wanted to get over to France and fulfill one last task from the war - that being to say goodbye to a fallen comrade.
The film moves between Bernie's travels to France, Rene's current health issues in the aged care home and Bernie and Rene's love story during the Second World War, where the young couple have to courageously face the future, not knowing if Bernie will come back. Bernie has his own issues, feeling the guilt for letting his mate drive a tank onto the beach.
The film is very well done. Oliver Parker's direction is sensitive, but at times funny. We get to meet Arthur (John Standing) an Air Force Flyer on the trip to see his brother, buried in the Bayeux War Cemetery. And the nurse Adele (Danielle Vitalis) shows the wonderful people that work in aged care, looking after the ailing Rene as they wait for news on Bernie.
This isn't a block buster, more a look at ordinary people doing extraordinary things. The thing I loved most was Bernie's inherent goodness. There is a scene where he and Arthur meet a group of Germans, over for exactly the same reason. It's a beautifully poignant scene.
The other thing for me which resonated was after taking a visit to Northern France last year, paying a visit to Omaha Beach, among other places, I felt the feelings behind all of this. We visited Bayeux, but not the war cemetery (opting instead, to pay a visit to the war cemetery at Villers Bretonneux.) You can't help but feel something in these places. In Bernie's words, it was all a bloody waste.
My one, very small reservation about the film is why would they put Bernie and Rene on the top floor of the nursing home. Both were pretty infirm. That didn't ring true.
The Great Escaper is definitely worth a look. It's not just me being in one of my British Film phases. It's just a great story about an ordinary man doing extraordinary things. Take a tissue if you do go. It tugs at the heartstrings.
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