A cinematic event to say the least. It is hard to say how much of a budget was given for the films production as one can see all the money was spent on the flashback war scenes. The war scenes in which were very effective and satisfying to watch. One cannot ignore the green screen used throughout the car journey.
Michael Caine plays a character called Jack, who on his death bed requested his ashes to be buried at sea with the help from 3 of his closest friends and his son. Throughout the film, we learn of the characters realtionship with Jack throughout the years they have known him.
The film does get emotional at times, which i wasnt expecting, this is helped by the flashbacks of such scenes as Jack with his son Vince telling him his adopted and Jacks death scene, where he dies watching his horse win, smiling. The greatest sadness of all is seeing how appealing Jacks life looked back before the war. He was handsome, a war hero, met his wife amy and was part of a succesful butchers shop. However, when he gets old, his butchers business isnt doing so well, he is in debt and his son has let down the family. Its representative of the life cycle. As we get older, the world becomes a harder place to live in.
The characters are a bit hard to understand. Bob Hoskins character Ray is shown to be Jacks best friend, however as the film develops we learn that he has a perverted crush on Jacks wife, they start seeing eachtoher behind Jacks back. I was expecting this relationship to go somewhere, as the film is all about narrative and thought provoking, however, this relationship between Ray and Amy doesnt progress, we never do find out if they go to Australia together. However, one can argue that this was never told to us as it relates to the context of the film. A mark of respect for Jack, as it were. Throughout the film the four men keep referencing to Jack being there and watching them. Maybe if the audience knew how Ray and Amys relationship ended then it would be disrespectful to Jack.
Jacks character is hard to understand, he is the main character, yet the nastiest one. He puts his disabled daughter in a home and never goes to see her, he cheats on his wife during the war and his younger self comes across demanding and a bit too confident. However, this is what makes the film, although a nasty character, these 4 men have been affected by him massively, all seem to be linked with his wife Amy. Vince was adpoted but taken by Amy, and Ray seems to have only kept friends with Jack because of Amy. Aside from this, each character finds a emotional and remarkable moment in their lives in which Jack was responsable for.
The only problem in the movie is when they disposed of the ashes. Considering they travelled all the way to Maregate you'd think they would take more care when disposing the ashes, made a right old mess of it.
A good moving and touching movie with some of the greatest british actors of our time. 6/10
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