Two films for you this week, one of which is surprisingly good and one of which does not surprise in the least. Shall we be unsurprised first?
OK, Another Mother’s Son, set during the second world war on Nazi-occupied Jersey, is based on the true story of Louisa Gould, who took in an escaped Russian PoW for the course of the war. Louisa Gold, what a mensch — she would later be named a ‘Hero of the Holocaust’. But it’s the kind of story that has been told countless times (I blame Anne Frank), and here it’s told in such a perfunctory, plodding way that it brings nothing new to the party. It’s simply as if an episode of Bergerac had developed ideas above its station — or a fancy for jackboots.
Jenny Seagrove plays Louisa, who has lost a son to the war, and seen how cruelly the Germans treat their Russian prisoners, so takes in Feodor (Julian Kostov), who is on the run.
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