Benediction

2021 Drama | War | History
61%

The story of soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), who was decorated for bravery on the Western Front, and is best remembered for his angry and compassionate poems about the First World War, which brought him public and critical acclaim. Avoiding the sentimentality and jingoism of many war poets, Sassoon wrote of the horror and brutality of trench warfare and contemptuously satirised generals, politicians, and churchmen for their incompetence and blind support of the war.

Our Review

by Brian Lloyd
Star Rating:

'Benediction' is a thoughtful examination of memory, love, and war

Told across two separate timelines, Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi) rejects his Military Cross and is sent to a mental institution after he pens a stinging rebuke of Britain's role in World War I. While there, he recuperates and begins to examine his lifelong work of poetry while engaging in scandalous affairs. Later in life, the elder Sassoon is received into the Catholic Church and wrestles with his past...

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