Carrie's War

The movie of the series of the book! All three are great.

The movie runs about 90 minutes and has an awful lot of ground to cover... this is good and bad. The pace is brisk... but it needn't have been. The 5 part series, 30 years prior, was more laid back and did more justice to the book.

That said, it's an excellent TV movie and much of that credit should be given to the young cast - especially Keeley Fawcett. She looks and sounds like a young Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children) and gives an extremely nuanced and mature performance. (She was an adult when she played the 12-year old-girl.) I wonder what happened to her. Did she even do anything else after that?

There are some memorable moments along the way as two children, Carrie and Nick, are sent from London to Wales to avoid the bombing blitz of the second world war. One of those moments is when Carrie's mother sends her a dress and gushing with joy she tries it on, only to find that it's too small for her.

Geraldine McEwan is a treat to watch and when she dances with young Carrie you would swear they are related.

Alun Armstrong's Mr. Samuel Evans is perhaps the most complicated of the characters. he's bossy, religious, strict and uncompromising... but not mean or vindictive. He's the sort of man it's easy to despise till you walk a step or two in his shoes. His son is drifting away from him, his sister actually ends up running off with an American soldier to avoid him and he is lonely and confused about his standing with the other members of his family.

There's actually a lot of comedy to be found in this telling as well as a couple of heartbreaking moments. They are all played out with dignity and the film is very rewarding to the viewer.

I remember watching the original children's TV serial back in 1974 (on a black and white set!). Thirty years on, the BBC show this version as a complete full-length film.

What can I say? An excellent story set in wartime Britain and revolving around the lives of Carrie and her younger brother, evacuated to a small town in rural Wales. Central to the plot are the strange relationships between members of the Evans family. Mr Evans is a local council member and a strict Methodist. He and his younger sister run the village shop and take in the two evacuee children. His other widowed sister, Mrs Gotobed, also lives near the village, but they have fallen out. Carrie ends up playing 'piggy in the middle' to all the incidents and interludes between the family members. After the death of Mrs Gotobed, Carrie and her brother leave the village to be reunited with their parents.

The film has a twist at the end...which I shall not reveal here!

There have been a few 'children'-based WW2 films, and this one belongs to that category, and in a small group of very good ones, like Hope and Glory. Lesley Fawcett does an excellent job of inhabiting her character and most of the other cast are well-developed roles and solidly acted. It's got the usual great period details that British film does so well, is intelligently and authentically written, and has children as main characters who are very believable and act as expected from this age group. A very watchable and enjoyable movie that has depth of both characters and storyline. And a different angle to this period.

The story revolves around two children sent way from the WWII bombing in London to be billeted with an unknown family in Wales.

It must have been very distressing to be shipped off like this, whatever the reason.

I didn't know it was a children's story when I started to watch it, but it soon became evident.

It reminded me of The Railway Children.

The story unfolds with the children showing more maturity than some of the adult characters, particularly the prejudice and sanctimonious Mr. Evans.

I thought the ending was a bit odd.

The historical tale is brought forward some 10 years or so to end up happy ever after, but the fact that Carrie had been living under a misconception for those years was not really believable. It may have been handled better in the book.

What a shame that Keeley Fawcett disappeared from screens following this drama.

I really enjoyed this except the jump forward in time. It seemed jarring and unnecessary way to end it. I was pleasantly surprised to see the actor who played Brian on New Tricks. He does play emotional scenes very well.

Its funny how they made the witch plump. It sends the message right away that she has to be a good witch and not to be feared.