"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" (from Wilfred Owen's poem "Anthem for Doomed Youth")

I like this production a lot, though it does considerably fall short and disappoint in certain regards. Whereas I think the depiction of battlefield relationships during wartime is excellent, the bulk of homefront depiction feels weak and semi-amateurish; the quality of acting and storytelling is thin and disappointing when it comes to the respective parents and domestic moments back at home.

Was it just me, or did anyone else, during the first several minutes of the story, find their self very confused as to which young lead male was supposed to be from where? I mean they both sound 100% equally from the UK, and the story, and what was spoken, didn't - I don't think - make it obviously clear which country each was from and in. Until each eventually donned a unique uniform for their respective country (England or Germany) of nationality, I thought both were supposed to be English.

I like that writings of actual WWI soldiers were spoken, in voiceover, by actors (not shown), and that elderly other former soldiers spoke on camera at times, with some of their own memories. However, while that all was a good thing, information wise, it resulted in a decidedly disjointed feeling production, that the balance of was too inconsistent, each time very much taking me out of the moment and story. I do really like this production though. I saw it for the first time over the course of a couple nights during this past week, and would like to watch it again at some point. The two leads are excellent and perfect; I hope each goes on to have a brilliant career. I see that, since this came out the other year, Jack Lowden (the portrayer of Michael) has been making quite a successful name for himself, between prominent television and film roles.

Definitely my favourite relationship in this is that of Tommy (portrayed by Patrick Gibson) and the scared, overwhelmed underage soldier Derek (played by Brian Fletcher), who Tommy takes under his wing. I found that believable and touching. The actor who portrays Derek did a wonderful, sensitive, heartbreaking job. My heart totally goes out to poor Derek, who seems one iota shy of a complete nervous breakdown (if not, perhaps, suicide).