A woman who lives in the interests of her husband. Support, back. The one that is always on the sidelines and is deprived of the right to vote. To some, such a picture will seem ordinary, to others out of date, to others outrageous. But this is how today, despite feminism and other #girlpower, military wives live. Such as the heroines of the new film by Peter Cattaneo.
There are films — frankly, quite infrequently — that are good for everyone: both the story, and the way it is told, and the acting, and the dialogues, and the camera work. And there are also those, simple, unpretentious, where the “what” in itself is very powerful and helps not to find fault with the “how” too much. Especially if it’s based on real events.
Great Britain, XXI century. The scene is a garrison near the village of Catterick in North Devonshire. From the available entertainment — a trip to the local grocery store, walks around the neighborhood, shopping in the «shop on the couch» and a glass of white before bed. Only this helps the main characters, the garrison wives, to kill time while their husbands kill others in the war — and die themselves.
Although no, saying «kill time» is not fair to these women. They rather drown out their fear. Fear of one day getting a funeral. Fear of hearing a knock on the door and seeing men with military bearing and mournful faces on the threshold. Fear of being a single mother. Fear of losing the closest person — husband, son, father.
This fear paralyzes some, disorients others, makes others do strange things, and they all cope as best they can, each on their own, until one of them comes up with the idea of organizing a choir. Chorus of «wives of war».
And it turns out that music and creativity can be a great way to relax. That it is much easier to emerge from anxious expectation together than alone. That it’s never too late to step out of your husband’s shadow and find your voice — and even to be transported from a tiny village to the stage of the Albert Hall. And that when death does come — and it will come, à la guerre comme à la guerre1, — it will be possible to give vent to feelings and express your pain at the top of your voice.
1 In war as in war