Regeneration, Part 4/12

Movie adaptation of Pat Barker's novel 'Regeneration' charting Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen's treatment at Craiglockhart hospital during World War One and Sassoon's relationship with the budding poet Owen and his doctor William Rivers

W.H.R Rivers: Jonathan Pryce
Siegfried Sassoon: James Wilby
Wilfred Owen: Stuart Bunce
Billy Prior: Jonny Lee Miller
Robert Graves: Dougray Scott

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• W.H.R
• Rivers
• Siegfried
• Sassoon
• Wilfred
• Owen
• Regeneration
• First
• World
• War
• Jonathan
• Pryce
• James
• Wilby

[MaikuxSAN]

Ya know, as of right now, If I were to make a decent film about Wilfred, I would have James Macavoy play him. I say that because he's played a young soldier three times and in all three times, the solider died (why not make it a nice round number with 4?) Not to mention, He's a good period actor and he's youthful enough were he could play a 19-25 year old believably and he's British....yeah.

[MaikuxSAN]

Thanks.Maybe it's not so much of obstacle after all.

I can only imagine how eerie it must have been to be in Ors. To maybe be standing on the exact spot were he died is a creepy thought. Then again, the whole of the Western Front is the same way- it's one giant graveyard. Like northern Virginia. I went through there on a family trip to DC and almost every field we passed had a Civil War battle marker...it's was eerie to say the least.

[SassoonOwen]

Going to Ors is a very haunting experience. Part of my pilgrimage to France a few years back included visiting Owen's grave. An ocean also separates me from France, but it was something I knew I had to do. Have not been to Craiglockhart, but my research may take me there some day. Good luck!

[pudupudu]

I went to the one at Craiglockhart. I've been there twice now- very little of it is still as it was in WW1 but what was the main entrance is now a museum and it is the same as it was and some of the staircases remain relatively unchanged. The play itself was amazing (it got a bad review in the Times but I'd ignore that- the man who wrote it couldn't even spell 'Wilfred')

[MaikuxSAN]

I want to go to Ors too. The only obstacle being that an Ocean rests between me and Britain/France. So going on an "Owen pilgrimage" would be something of a change, at lest financially.

[SassoonOwen]

Yes, the swamp scenes I think were a prelude to his own death in the canal in France...like you said, mother earth claiming it's own. I'm not sure what the significance of it for Burns was, though, but I do think our more primal side (which war brings out, and he was reinacting by killing things) had a part to play in all of that.

[SassoonOwen]

Yes, I've seen "Not About Heroes" (it was a Canadian production) and thought it was really well done.

[MaikuxSAN]

No, I haven't. I'd like to though. Apparently there was a showing at Craiglockhart which I would have all but died to see. Not only to watch the events fictionalized in the place were they really happened, but just to be there, to roam the same halls as Sassoon and Owen.

[pudupudu]

I agree with your comments about the portrayal of Owen (though I must say that I think the film makes up for it in other aspects though its blunders are somewhat amusing / bemusing- for instance they spell 'Craiglockhart' wrong and at one point Rivers is wearing a wedding ring). I'm not entirely sure that I agree that Owen was the greatest war poet (I've studied rather a few) but I do adore his poetry :-D

[pudupudu]

Have you seen the play 'Not About Heroes'- it portrays the relationship between Sassoon and Owen and is a fairly accurate portrayal

[MaikuxSAN]

I'm just glad to know that I'm not the only person bothered by the film. He's portrayal does that come with some redeeming qualities. At lest Stuart Bunce looks something like Wilfred and was the right age. The James Wilby and Dougray Scott were 10 years to older the people they were portraying.

[MaikuxSAN]

the dead bird out of Burn's hand and they both start crying are the only two scenes with him in it that I can stand.

[MaikuxSAN]

I did. :D

But I have the stance that it was partly an ambition created by the concussion that he was till healing from at the time....Please, tell me what you think of his "swamp obsession" in the film, I thought that was an interestingly creepy little cue. He goes there because he finds comfort in it and he finds comfort in it because the swamp or water is like his mother, but instead of bringing him into the world, it's taking him from it.

[SassoonOwen]

I'm glad we agree on the film's portrayal of him. I watched it and cringed at so many things, thinking in my head how it could have been done so much better...I agree with the poetic irony part...but for me he represents a generation of lost men who could have done so much with their lives; yet we will never know. Did you know Owen wanted to be a pig farmer after the war was over? Such humble ambitions for England's greatest war poet!

[MaikuxSAN]

It really does, I petition for a movie about him that shows him properly. A British indie film, based largely on facts. Wilfred's life had so much drama and "poetic irony", it begs to made into a movie. The fact that he left Craiglockhart exactly a year before he died is one example, his mother being married in a mourning dress is another.

[SassoonOwen]

Wilfred Owen was not the clumsy, nervous individual that the book or film portrays him as. From the extensive research I've done, much of which includes his letter writing, I didn't get the impression that he was some weak man who bumped into things or tripped on his own feet. I feel the film (while I enjoyed it) did Owen a great injustice.

[MaikuxSAN]

And with all the focus and reference to his death they have in the film, they really should have done more with him. As much as I love his awkwardness/clumsiness, it bugs me to no end. He comes off kinda dumb witted and weak because of it and from what I've read on him, he wasn't like that at all. Maybe it's just a symptom is his shell shock or his age or the environment he's in or a combo of all three.

[MaikuxSAN]

I agree completely. Between his general awkwardness,stammer and clumsiness he's just too cute. I love how they got his look almost down pat.(He's a little too tall and his stash isn't the right style,but nothings perfect.)He's even got that weird gaze the real Owen had. I think they could have used him more effectively in the film then they did. Given him more screen time and expanded on his character. In both the film and book he comes off as little flat and under used.

[gib1jack]

johnny lee miller is rly cute!

[pudupudu]

UK version

[xATOASTERx]

is this the U.S. or U.K. version?

[iDoomspeed]

Owen is so adorable.