The hilarious highlight of John Boorman’s Hope And Glory (1987), nominated for 5 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director: 9-year-old Bill Rohan rejoices in the destruction of his school by an errant Luftwaffe bomb.
The sequel to Hope And Glory, Queen And Country, picks up the story nearly a decade later as Bill (Boorman’s alter-ego) begins basic training in the early Fifties, during the Korean War.
Bill (played by a charming Callum Turner) is joined by a trouble-making army mate, Percy (Caleb Landry Jones).
They never get near Korea, but engage in a constant battle of wits with the Catch-22-worthy, Sgt. Major Bradley (David Thewlis). Richard E. Grant is their superior, the veddy, veddy, infinitely put-upon, aptly-named Major Cross.
A superb ensemble cast takes charge of a wonderfully funny and often moving depiction of a still-recovering postwar England.
Watch the Queen And Country trailer.
