Daffodil

If you think this film is shallow, you're watching it in a shallow way. It works on at least two levels at one and the same time; it's both an extravagantly gory, nasty action horror sci-fi flick, and a critique on modern American gung-ho attitudes to the rest of the world. The whole world has been federalized into a Nazi-style Union, with unmistakable Orwellian overtones; the world is divided into Citizens, who can vote, have children, get good jobs, etc., and non-citizens. At the suggestion that the bugs are attacking only in defence, having been interfered with by the Federation too many times, and that a 'live and let live' policy would save the most lives, the protagonists respond aggressively and not particularly intelligently. I won't go on; there's material for a whole thesis here... but think on - Nazi Germany and military America - are there parallels? The extremity of the suggestion is cleverly camouflaged by the macho action.

My mother and I sobbed all the way through the second half of this film. To be fair, it can only be properly appreciated if you speak Welsh; the poetry loses everything in translation. It does become pretty mawkish at times but as a true Welsh woman I'm a no-holds-barred sentimentalist and I fell for it hook line and sinker.

Gorgeous filming, beautiful acting, and masterly translation of the poetry in Anthony Burgess's subtitles. This is an overwhelming film, full of humour, tragedy, music, conflict and true love. To die for.