Airplane Movies - The History Boys
I had the delightful fortune again to ride in an Air Canada Embraer jet returning home a couple of weeks ago (especially compared to the Canadair tinbox that took me to Tulsa) and so had a wide choice of movies to watch on the flight.I picked "The History Boys", which I had barely missed seeing live in London, and then had wondered about. Alan Bennett has long been someone I will pay some attention to, and grew up recognizing from 'Beyond the Fringe'.
What a curious movie (and before that, curious play, no doubt)! I loved it, was moved very much by much of it, but also confused about whether Bennett wanted more than just creating a picture of a time. Which would be fine.
But it certainly veers about with some degree of political incorrectness. What I found most convincing was the canniness and wile with which the boys, as a group, managed Hector's aadvances. They seemed much more resilient that the people we are permitted to imagine today. And somehow more real to me.
Beyond that, and not unrelated, it is about what education is. And what history is.
This play takes a delicate touch, and Bennett balances somewhere in the middle of it all, creating no real villains, and no real heroes (Hector's behaviour is by no means presented as innocent).
A lovely, delicate piece of work, brilliantly acted.
Labels: Embraer Canadair Alan Bennett History Boys
posted by Alan Adamson @ 5:53 PM
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