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| Directed by David Mamet; Starring Nigel Hawthrone, Jeremy Northam, Rebecca Pidgeon, Gemma Jones, Guy Edwards, Matthew Pidgeon, Colin Stinton, Aden Gillett, and Sarah Flind |
David Mamet seems to be one of the greatest modern day screenwriters. His gritty expletive-packed human nature stories seem to have a tremendous effect on me. He has made Oscar hopefuls of mine like Wag the Dog; he has produced some of the greatest screenplays of character studies like The Verdict; he has even written the best film of the year one year, 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross. But all that was until he went for a wider audience. Before Wag the Dog, the only films penned by Mamet were rated R because of his affinity for a certain word beginning with “f”. Then last year Mamet directed the PG rated The Spanish Prisoner to rousing reviews and a much bigger audience than American Buffalo. The Spanish Prisoner was my choice for best film of the year so far when I saw it on 1 May and it held that spot until The Truman Show came out on 5 June. The fact that it was good was a bit of a surprise considering that it was directed by the playwright because most of his previous directing efforts (Oleanna, Things Change) had been quite lackluster. Now, after years of making parents run their children away from his films, Mamet has made a G rated film with The Winslow Boy.
The Winslow Boy is about the famous trial of Ronald Winslow (Edwards), a young British naval academy cadet accused of the thievery of a postal note. When he tells his father Arthur (Hawthrone) in the strictest of truth that he did not do what he is accused of, his father and sister Catherine (Pidgeon) set out on a crusade to clear his name. After being shot down a couple of times in front of various magistrates, they call upon the help of Sir Robert Morton (Northam) to take the case to Parliament and finally clear Ronald’s name. In the process Robert begins to fall in love with Catherine while coming to believe in Ronald’s truthfulness.
The Winslow Boy is a treat to watch and listen to. The cast puts up a very good job, especially the terrific Northam. Mamet’s scriptwriting seems to even work when its not set in a present day moment of personal deconstruction. The only real problem with the film is in his direction. I thought that it looked magnificent, but not near as interesting as Mamet tried to make it look. There were points in the film where it seemed pushed and tired, like it had a weighty extra 20 minutes on it. Even if a bit overlong, The Winslow Boy stands as an achievement, even if its own biggest achievement is being rated G.
