On the Black Hill

Not unlike the distant Welsh valley where it was filmed, this screen adaptation of Bruce Chatwin's novel can be a little too remote at times, but it captures the insular life of an old Welsh farm with vivid austerity. In just under two hours the film spans over eighty years in the lives of identical twin brothers, born into a century which seems to happen somewhere over the distant horizon (their closest involvement with the Second World War is watching the glow on the skyline of Coventry burning during the Blitz). The film offers a challenging vision of continuity between successive generations of a family tied (for better or worse) to the land, but the episodic, hopscotch approach effectively (deliberately?) forestalls any dramatic momentum, and no matter how eloquently expressed the stark isolation of the twins' life together is often cold and depressing.

It shows that this is a novel adaption. The first thirty minutes rush through the plot, introducing subplots that are never picked up again. The middle part and end is not bad, but overall it is just an average movie based on a much better novel.

Based on the famous novel by Bruce Chadwick this tale of twins growing up on a welsh hill farm in the 1900s is an excellent film. The film starts with the twins parents meeting at a church on the Wales/England border getting married and going to live on a rented farm called The Vision. The twins then become the focal point of the film, their lives on the farm and their unique bond with it and each other. Welsh nationalism is a recurring theme throughout the film and Anglo/Welsh relations are often strained due to the sale of farms at an auction and the outbreak of war when many Welsh people were drafted into the British army. To emphasise this point the family who start out as Church of England switch to Welsh chapel goers. The twins were real life brothers and most of the cast were recruited from the Hay on Wye area where it was filmed.

Clearly, the identical twins Benjamin and Lewis are not identical twins. If one stretched the imagination, they could be seen as fraternal twins, but that's pushing it. One is much older than the other.

Of the actors who play the adult brothers, the award for Best Actor would surely go to the shorter of the two, even though he seems much too old for the part. He has a subtlety that the taller, younger-appearing actor does not. He can change his expression and demeanor without moving a muscle in his face or body, while the taller one manufactures expression.

This movie is rather hard to follow, at times.

From the UK. The first thing we see is a passage from revelations. Followed by a family in church. So much religion! Stars mike and robert gwilym, as welsh twins lewis and benjamin, and their lives. The first hour is just growing up as kids, with an unpredictable father. Kind of a wasted hour... didn't really need to spend that much time on how their parents met. When one brother is sent off to war, they both suffer, in separation, and their gentle, non-violent beliefs. We see many samples of their pain and suffering. After the war, they get rich and successul, but as one of them points out, they have no heir to whom they can leave it. Gotta be honest... not a lot happens in this one hour fifty one minute film. I was hoping for more drama, but if you were wondering what life was like in wales, from 1900 to 1950, this is your film. I guess it shows the friendship between brothers. Directed by andrew grieve. Mike gwilym only made one more film after this, but robert was still acting as recently as 2019.