Regeneration (1997)

reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten


REGENERATION
 Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D.
 Alliance Films
 Director: Gillies Mackinnon
 Writer: Allan Scott from novel by Pat Barker
 Cast: Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller, John
Neville

Teachers sometimes learn more from their students than pupils learn from them (in fact they almost always do). So why should psychiatrists be any different? In the classic case of an analyst's being affected more by his patient than the latter is influenced by him, Peter Shaffer's play "Equus," Dr. Martin Dysart questions the vitality of his own life after hearing of the unabandoned midnight rides of the obsessive Alan Strang. In the film "Regeneration," directed by Gillies Mackinnon, based on Booker Prize-winning author Pat Barker's novel, a psychiatrist is so distressed, upset, moved by his shellshocked patients that he is in danger of experiencing a breakdown himself.

Allan Scott has adapted the book to the screen, a difficult conversion in that Pat Barker's novel contained no scenes of actual World War I battle. Scott appended several scenes from the trenches to give the audience a visual and emotional understanding of what went through the minds of the Scottish soldiers to cause them such anguish that they could no longer fight. In one case, that of Billy Prior (Jonny Lee Miller), the officer went completely mute and could not recall the traumatic event or events that rendered him incapable of speech and therefore unable to command his unit. In the more politically and philosophically interesting situation, Siegfried Sassoon (James Wilby), an officer who received the Iron Cross for bravery and one who is loved by his men, is sent to the mental institution though he is perfectly sane. An educated man, he had written a pamphlet criticizing the British government for pursuing what he calls a war of aggression against the enemy, not a battle between English angels and German devils. Cynically enough, the hospital--with its spacious grounds and caring professional care--exists not to grant men who are serving their country the honest treatment which is due. Its purpose is to patch them up so that they can be returned to active duty, the staff judged by their ability to carry out this task. It falls on the shoulders of Dr. William Rivers (Jonathan Pryce) to persuade the very sane Siegfried Sassoon to recant his declaration so that he may avoid scandalizing the government any more. If he refuses to recant, he may have to remain in this safe sanitarium for the duration of the war; but in doing so, he is likely to be afflicted with the same survivors' guilt that threatens to envelope Billy Prior.

If the names Siegried Sasson and Dr. William Rivers sound familiar, that is because the film and the book are based on real characters. Siegfried Sassoon is not only a brave soldier who proves himself twice in combat but a mentor to the most famous British bard of World War I themes, Wilfred Owen (Stuart Bunce), whom Sassoon advises to stop writing poetry about love and instead to transcribe lyrics from his own war experiences.

Director Mackinnon takes us from the muddy trenches which saw much of the fighting in the First World War to the hospital (actually a 13th century castle outside Edinburgh) and back again to the front to give the viewers a realization of how combat can provide the stress which leads to nervous collapse. He hones in on an experimental treatment actually used by a Dr. Yealland (John Neville), shock therapy which uses pain to compel patients to shape up and which works-- though it provokes questions of whether the end justifies the means. He explores a tender love affair between Billy Prior and a local factory worker, a romance which helps the formerly mute officer to recover his sanity without the anguish of Dr. Yealland's questionable methods.

Perhaps we're all overwhelmed by Steven Spielberg's success in showing us the horrors of war in "Saving Private Ryan" to be taken in by the obviously far less expensive "Regeneration." With Mackinnon's movie released just weeks after Spielberg's, we're unable to appreciate the terror faced by these officers in the trenches during the period 1914-1919. The pallid battlefield mise en scene is wholly unconvincing, and in one particular instance--when Sassoon leads a furious solo charge against a German bunker after seeing a friend killed by a sniper--he looks like a kid playing army with his pals. Despite noble attempts by veteran actors Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby and Jonny Lee Miller, their interplay lacks chemistry, appearing more like a chit chat between friends over afternoon tea.

"Regeneration" certainly has its purple heart in the right place but the overall impression is one of a dour, inert meditation more suitable to the printed page than the celluloid stage.

Not Rated.  Running time: 113 minutes.  (C) Harvey Karten
1998

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