I read the book just before I found out they were making the film so was naturally quite excited to see how they handled it.
While Gleeson and Thompson turn in great performances, the adaptation lets them down badly.
The film and book part company towards the end: the film ends up with a glimmer of hope, with the postcards being thrown out of the window, possibly to give their message again. In the book there is no false hope. Nobody reads the postcards, nobody is affected, the protest is a vain one.
But the message is that even if doomed to fail, we must still protest if something is not right. If we do not oppose evil, we tacitly condone it.
I realise that as reviews go, this is uninformative and a bit rubbish; I feel that it's important to look beyond the film amd to reflect on the book's message, which is as relevant today as it was during WW2.
While Gleeson and Thompson turn in great performances, the adaptation lets them down badly.
The film and book part company towards the end: the film ends up with a glimmer of hope, with the postcards being thrown out of the window, possibly to give their message again. In the book there is no false hope. Nobody reads the postcards, nobody is affected, the protest is a vain one.
But the message is that even if doomed to fail, we must still protest if something is not right. If we do not oppose evil, we tacitly condone it.
I realise that as reviews go, this is uninformative and a bit rubbish; I feel that it's important to look beyond the film amd to reflect on the book's message, which is as relevant today as it was during WW2.