On the Black Hill

This is the kind of movie that picks some characters and show their entire life, from their childhood until their death. Here the story is about 2 twin brothers who are very different but are very close too and who have lived in Wales since their birth in 1900. The movie begins explaining how their parents met, fell in love and married and later it centers in the 2 brothers, how they grow, how the 2 World Wars affect their lives and their little problems on the Wales countryside. A marvelous and beautiful film, perfectly directed and acted. A must see. 9/10

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.

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.

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.

A slow burner for sure, but one of the films I saw as a teenager, along with Life is Sweet, Boys from the Blackstuff, that had the same feeling of taking you into different lives, different cultures, and ways of thinking that are , for better or worse, no more than nostalgia.

It's not an uplifting film at first watch, but the sensitivity it deploys without the expense of becoming sentimental is beautiful. The landscape is brutal and barely productive, but the attachment of the family to it is mirrored in the attachment of the brothers to each other and their father's legacy.

I hope the BFI ensure this is preserved in their archives, it's surely worth it.