Testament of Youth review - BFI film festival

Adapted from Vera Brittian’s memoir, Testament of Youth focuses on the life of Vera (Alicia Vikander) and her memories of the First World War. The film Testament of youth was directed by James Kent and is a biographical war film which includes the main themes of friendship, love, betrayal and sacrifice. Friendship and Love are themes shown throughout the whole film whilst betrayal is shown only during one scene where the man she loves leaves her earlier than she expected to fight in France and sacrifice happens as a big event because she gives up her dream in order to save those in awful situations. Choices and duty are also recurring themes as all the characters in the film have their youth taken away some way or another.

Before the war Vera spends her summer studying and spending time with her brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and his friends Victor (Colin Morgan) and Roland (Kit Harington). Throughout the film Vera is shown to always be fighting against the conventions and stereotypes of what is expected of a woman in the 1900’s. She was a feminist, who strived for an Oxford education rather than to sit around, play the piano or become someone’s housewife.  

Vera refuses to stand around and do nothing when Roland, Edward and Victor find themselves duty bound to sign up and she hears of all the fatalities that have already taken place a few months into the war, so she decides to help and chooses to abandon her university life that she worked so hard for and volunteer as a nurse. She was pre-judged at Oxford and proved them wrong and now again as she enlists as a nurse she is almost dismissed due to her upbringing but this only drives Vera to work harder.  Kent presents the female experience of war with tactical practicality, likening the nurses’ hospital training to a kind of rigorous boot camp as the head nurse walks up and down the line of women who’ve volunteered as nurses.

At the start of the film the war is over and Vera is shown standing in the middle of the street surrounded by people cheering in happiness. However the sound is drowned out and quieter than it should be so that all the focus is on her rather than the end of the war. The drowning out of the sound shows that at this moment Vera is in a daze and that she isn't thinking straight, she's unable to focus on what is around her. It also shows that vera does not feel like the others, she is not as happy that the war is over due to the torment that she went through during the war.

The performances were stunning especially from Alicia Vikander who played Vera. She gives such a humbling and compassionate performance. The emotions she portrayed were very believable and they caused me to feel upset. I did have an emotional attachment towards all the characters because they all showed themselves to be caring and loving people, so when the news came in that they were hurt the emotions did kick in. I liked the scene where Vera is rubbing her hands and feet in the mud as if she is trying to put herself in the position of the men at war. This really made Vera seem strong-willed and courageous as if she wishes she was there with them before the deaths.

Mark Kermode (Observer Film Critic) says:
"The entire ensemble cast work hard to inject personal passion into the stiff-upper-lip storytelling, and individual moments are haunting. It's a powerful story, and one that deserves to be told and retold, albeit in rather more adventurous fashion."

In my opinion I thought the film was really enjoyable. The characters emotions really shone through. It also showed how difficult it was to accept the concept of war and to convey how much it consumes leaving nothing but heartbreak, grief and suffering.