Page 18 - Adelante Magazine June 2022

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M Movie Review
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By: Joseph R. Castel
Benediction, set in the restrictive society of the Edwardian Era in the early years of
the 20th Century, is reminiscent of the classic 1987 British gay film Maurice, with
Hugh Grant. This biopic, however, is on poet and British soldier, Siegfried Sassoon
Seeking Salvation (Jack Lowden) during World War I. When 28-year-old Lieutenant Sassoon is taken
ill in the trenches of France, heʼs sent to a hospital to recuperate. Although heʼs
in All the Wrong Places in awarded the Military Cross for bravery, he becomes a pacifist and refuses to lead his
men back into battle, claiming that the establishment is “prolonging the war by failing
BENEDICTION to state their conditions for peace.” Heʼs outraged that so many men have died for no
valid reason except for bloated misguided nationalism.

Despite the risk of being court martialed, and shot, his upper
crust friends with ties to Winston Churchill get him sent to a
military hospital in Scotland, on the false prognosis of being
“shell shocked”. Outraged that his friends have interceded,
Sassoon prefers being shot if it gets more people to pay
attention to the futility of the war (talk about putting your money
where your mouth is). As a patient, Sassoon is treated by an
understanding gay psychiatrist and falls in love with another
patient, whoʼs also a soldier and a poet. Not a bad stay if youʼre
closeted and considered criminally insane by British standards.
Through narration, director Terence Davies juxtaposes
Sassoonʼs anti-war poetry with historical archival footage from
World War I. Itʼs a bold move, considering itʼs more of an artistic
convention that allows the viewer to peer into the mind of our
protagonist. This technique gives the film a docudrama quality.
It interrupts the flow of the beautiful cinematography and drama,
with grainy, soft focus, silent images, but of course, thatʼs the
point, to interrupt life, pause and to reflect whatʼs really going
on. Itʼs Sassoonʼs anti-war poetry that makes him a national
icon, admired by the gentry as well as the commoner.
Actor Jack Lowden (Dunkirk) is simply sublime as Sassoon. His
conviction as a courageous pacifist is disarming and riveting.
Lowdenʼs a handsome, charismatic, talented actor, so expect
to see more of him in the near future.
The filmʼs anti-war plot, unfortunately, wavers when Sassoon
returns to civilian life. Once the war is over, Sassoon drifts into
a life of hobnobbing with the rich and famous, and like F. Scott
Fitzgeraldʼs romantic character, Jay Gatsby, Sassoonʼs caught
up in the excessiveness of the roaring twenties. He falls in love
with a famous male actor, and later, a socialite, but both are vain
dandies, petty and catty, and they refuse a monogamous
relationship with Sassoon or any man. Itʼs hard to understand
why an established artist with such noble convictions would get
caught up with such shallow stereotypical drama queens.
Sassoon eagerly navigates his way through an underground
culture of snobbish gay aristocrats, but heʼs unable to hold onto
love and is incapable of coming to terms with his homosexu-
ality. The tragedy of the story is that Sassoon is not able to
embrace his sexuality as he did his pacifism, with integrity and
pride. Disillusioned with the philandering gay men among the
elite, he ends up seeking solace in the arms of an under-
standing woman, Catholicism, and fatherhood. Regardless of
trying to live a “normal” life, the poet never quite gets his homosexuality or the horrors
of war out of his system.
Benediction arrives in theatres June 3.

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