Written by the co-editor of Private Eye, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman and it shows. their love of the characters biting satirical humour in the face of the mud bath trenches of Flanders is plain to see and it works wonderfully.
While I did like the history of this mans story, I found the movie to be a bit dry. I'm sure in the historical period, the jokes on this may have been funny, but there is a total loss in translation.
I can only think that the reviewer who thought that this should have been more like The Hangover has little to no knowledge of the First World War, let alone of conditions in the trenches. Maybe diffusing unbearable situations with humour (and much of the humour that emanated from those trenches was actually blacker - and bluer - than that portrayed here) is one of those Very British Things.
In a world wherein we are all too often confronted with the tragic waste that is warfare, this heart-rending and thought-provoking treatment of our world's first war stands tall amidst a cohort of war films that glorify war while trivializing the loss it represents. An entire generation of Englishman were lain down in the mud of the European theater, and while many poets, writers and historians have made much of the tragedy of this affair, few have the courage to satirize it.
A really refreshing take on the First World War, with gallows humour aplenty. Definitely worth a watch for the perfectly judged performances by Chaplin, Palin and Rhind-Tutt.
The futility of WW1 is well documented. The fact that these men risked their lives to print a newspaper entirely by hand for purpose of doing something worth while, beyond required service....
The subject matter itself is deeply interesting : it's a riveting tragicomic story of wit, bravery and resilience under the very worst of circumstances. I'm not sure, however, that the movie rises completely to the challenge.
Co written by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman this tells the story of Fred Roberts and his lieutenant and friend Jack Pearson. While based in Ypres, Belgium they discover a near working printing press.
Ian Hislop is best known as editor of the long running "Private Eye" magazine - satirical; in its earlier days at least, fairly irreverent and often in (expensive) conflict with the rich and powerful. The team were witty, well-educated fellows often from good schools and families having a great deal of fun tweaking noses in a quite tolerant society during an extraordinarily long period of peace and prosperity when satire quickly became the mainstream.
