"Fortunes of War" ---Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson Excellent!

All you miniseries/BBC FANS and DU'ers will love this one. I found it in a rock bottom clearance sale at Blockbuster Video this weekend and am hooked. Find that the TV is lacking in what I want to see that will give me some "story line" with a little history that even if it isn't perfect gives me some connection to the past and how others have dealt with what we are dealing with here in America as we do the prelude to Fascist Control. What I love about this is that there is a "whore media" faction element in the movie that's amazingly similar to today, and Thompson plays a "realist" about what she's confronting and Branagh portrays the "revolutionary" with a heart as they both go through their adventure in the Balkans with fascism and Hitler's Invasion. :shrug:

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Here's the deal about it from Amazon:
FORTUNES OF WAR:
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
"Wherever we are, that will always be the center of things." So professor Guy Pringle reassures his new wife, Harriet. Unfortunately, where they are is Bucharest in 1939, with the Nazis gathering on the border, and fascism casting longer, darker shadows. Thus begins this epic 1987 miniseries based on Olivia Manning's Balkan and Levant trilogies that was originally broadcast in the United States on Masterpiece Theatre. For most Americans, it was an auspicious first look at England's glamorous former First Thespian couple, Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, who, as one character notes of Harriet, "lightens the darkness."


Fortunes of War suggests what Casablanca might have been like had it followed Victor and Ilsa instead of Rick, who famously didn't want to stick his neck out for anybody. Not Guy. "I want to do something more dramatic than lecturing," he proclaims. "It is our duty to shine a little light to hope someone notices." His activities are enough to put him on a Nazi death list, forcing Guy and Harriet to Greece and Egypt. "It isn't a lark," Guy tells Harriet early on, "but it is an adventure." Fortunes of War is populated by colorful characters, most notably the pitiable and decidedly untrustworthy Prince Yakimov (Ronald Pickup), and the dashing young soldier Simon Boulderstone (Rupert Graves of The Forsythe Saga and A Room with a View). There is plenty of intrigue, betrayals, domestic melodrama, and emotional separations and reunions to propel this nearly seven-hour production to its powerful conclusion. Readers of Manning's books and Branagh and Thompson fans will find the release of War good fortune indeed. --Donald Liebenson
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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:

Engaging and enlightening perspective on life during wartime, May 9, 2005


Reviewer: J. Rausch "miatajeff" (Warwick, NY) - See all my reviews



This is one of the most underappreciated films which delves successfully into the personal side of life during wartime. Life, business, and education goes on even though the world is trying to kill itself. Love is found and lost, jobs come and go, and life goes on-even as the bombs fall. Branagh and Thomson are as always endearing as much for their flaws as for their charms. The scenery and cinematography is simply spectacular. This is in many way reminiscent of The English Patient, while not as powerful or brilliant, still very enjoyable, and highly recomended.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
great but flawed, May 4, 2005


Reviewer: George "A reader" - See all my reviews
What great news that this has arrived on DVD! A wonderfully atmospheric and beautifully photographed BBC adaptation of of the Olivia Manning "Balkan" and "Levant" trilogies. And therein lies the only flaw. The second of the trilogies was written decades after the first (which was contemporaneous to the events in that trilogy). As a result, the second half of the mini-series strikes a different (rather idealised, almost mystical) tone compared to the first half, which captures the dramas and foibles of the characters in a more realistic fashion. But having said that, this is a production not to be missed. Branagh, Thompson and especially Ronald Pickup as Prince Yakimov are wonderful. What a treat to see it again!

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:EIjb6NQ2FAoJ:www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007LFPJ8%3Fv%3Dglance+Fortunes+of+War+Video&hl=en

Although this reminds me to put the books upon which it is based on my to-read list, which is growing longer every day.