Testament of Youth Review: A Harrowing and Stirring Story

Exquisitely engaging, emotional and eye-openingly rousing.

Director: James Kent

Starring: Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Dominic West, Taron Egerton, Emily Watson, Hayley Atwell, Colin Morgan

Running Time: 129 minutes.

UK Release date: 16th January 2015

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH is an incredibly rousing and emotional adaptation of Vera Brittain’s historical First World War memoir.

The film encompasses the right amount of war realism and human catastrophe to keep the audience enthralled in director James Kent‘s tragic love story, which will delight fans of the 1979 BBC mini-series and the original compassionate memoirs of Brittain.  

The film adaptation had its ultimate unveiling at the London Film Festival and is scheduled to be released in January 2015. It is expected to appeal to a broad scope of audiences; those familiar with the memoirs and original TV series, those interested in the trajectory of World War One and of course those who are unfamiliar with all of the previous, but appreciate a searing love story that delivers the contretemps similar to that of ATONEMENT, WAR REQUIEM and of course the more-modern tragic love story of Jack and Rose in TITANIC.

The two star-crossed lovers in the film are played by Vera Brittain’s Alicia Vikander and poet-turned-soldier Roland Leighton (Kit Harington). The beautiful duo create an endearing love story and history lesson that is very predictable, but nevertheless, equally enthralling from the onset.

Set in Buxton, rural Derbyshire in 1914, we are introduced to a stubborn, young Vera (Vikander) who has aspirations of attending Oxford University along with her brother Edward (Taron Egerton), despite the reluctance of her parents played by Dominic West and Emily Watson.  Refusing to concede to their demands of remaining at home to play the piano and marry, Vera continues to teach herself in preparation for the entrance exams through her study of poetry and discussions with her brother and his friend Victor (Colin Morgan). It is upon her declaration of “I’m not getting married – not now, not ever” speech with her parents and brother that she first meets Roland. With discussions of poetry, their love of writing and talking amidst windswept lace sheets, she realises that she is falling for her brother’s handsome friend, but the audience can sense the impending, inevitable cries of war in the none too distant future.

The beautiful green, idyllic opening where Vera swims in the brook with her brother and his friends and the winding, twisting path of her calm rural town are set to play a stark contrast to what looms ahead. A lot of time is invested into the intricacies of Vera and Roland’s relationship through exchanged letters, poems and all too brief periods when they meet – all of which are chaperoned by Joanna Scanlon.  Beautifully shot, the audience are treated to moments where they touch hands – no words are said, but then they do not need to be, as the romantic intentions between the two are so clearly felt, that it feels almost like the viewers are as much of an intrusion by watching as the chaperone herself.

Producers David Heyman (Harry Potter, Gravity) and Rosie Alison (The Boy In Striped Pyjamas), and director Kent cleverly create a feeling of compassion and perceptiveness for all of the cast, as a large amount of time is taken in getting to know them, from understanding their feelings, through to the decisions they make; Roland’s choice of joining the war, Vera’s encouraging talk to her parents to let her brother enlist and ‘let him be a man’ and her decision regarding her future at Oxford.

Cleverly, the film has the capacity to beautifully entwine the romance of the story and the dread of the impending war and all of the predictable tragedies that are set to go with it. Vera suddenly finds all of the men important to her in her life, apart from her father, signing up to fight in a conflict everyone, including Vera, predicts will be over by Christmas, as Roland promises her “I will be coming back.”

Without wanting to spoil the plot, as one can imagine, all does not bode well and an emotional onslaught for Vera begins – and indeed the audience, who are watching the awful apocalypse slowly and painfully unfold before their very eyes.

A sense of realism and involvement is created through voiceover readings from her letters, shots of men in the trenches, afflicted and wounded soldiers in ‘hospitals’ that resemble a mud-bath deluge without appropriate medication or equipment to even give the soldiers a fighting chance and of course the moment when families and loved ones of the soldiers check the newspapers to see who has ‘fallen’.

Aside from the carefully crafted script by Juliette Towhidi, the Testament of Youth‘s biggest success is through the choice of casting. Vikander makes the biggest impression in the film. The Swedish actor astonishes in her first leading role in an English-language production and it’s hard to believe that her accent is not genuine. Mesmerisingly brilliant on camera, she has a strong physical presence through her portrayal of misery, grief, despair and especially in moments where tragedy leaves her unable to say anything. Key emotional scenes are delivered so purely and effortlessly, it is hard not to feel the sadness and torture that consumes her with each phone call, telegram and news of yet another death.

Vikander is brilliantly supported by Harington, who has become rather stereotyped for his brooding role as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones, but in this role, he delivers something completely different. He refreshingly conveys a range of emotions and has the ability to the pull the audience in and make his love affair with Vera enticingly realistic.

Overall, the film is an impressive visionary masterpiece – simplistic and raw, but delivers the job beautifully.  For those who are unfamiliar with the true atrocities of World War One, Testament of Youth is a built-in history lesson that awakens the audience to the horrors of war and the blood-bath losses, which suffered at the hands of it.

A simply stunning directorial feature debut by James Kent. The film is devastatingly harrowing, but leaves you admiring a very brave lady who fought as strongly in her personal battles, as the soldiers themselves during the war. We salute you Vera Brittain.

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