Queen & Country

John Boorman's first film in eight years is a sequel to his autobiographical 1987 Hope and Glory, which was inspired by his childhood experience of being sent to the country during the London Blitz in World War II. Queen & Country picks up the story of his fictional stand-in Bill Rohan (played here by Callum Turner) during two years of compulsory military service in 1952. Something of a washout as a soldier, Bill is assigned to teach typing and deliver lectures on the Korean War to recruits, delivering talks that he fills with somewhat radical political commentary, while also—along with his buddy Percy (Caleb Landry Jones)—tweaking the by-the-book commander (David Thewlis). Boorman was 82 when he made this film and his direction here is easy and effortless, well befitting the story, which—like Hope and Glory—is largely anecdotal. Along the way, Bill experiences coming-of-age romantic adventures with a brittle, troubled high society girl (Tamsin Egerton) and a fun-loving nurse (Aimee-Ffion Edwards); makes a homecoming visit to his idyllic family home on an island in the river; witnesses the coronation of Elizabeth II on a new TV; and is involved in an elaborate prank involving the regimental clock. The film pokes fun at the extremes of military discipline and the exasperation of the officers, but also acknowledges their service and has some measure of empathy for their old values in a changing world where Britain is no longer an imperial power and the Cold War has replaced the World War. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)