WINSLOW BOY, THE (director: David Mamet; cast: Nigel Hawthorne (Arthur Winslow), Jeremy Northam (Sir Robert Morton), Rebecca Pidgeon (Catherine Winslow), Gemma Jones (Grace Winslow), Guy Edwards (Ronnie Winslow), Sarah Flind (Violet), Matthew Pidgeon (Dickie Winslow), Aden Gillett (John Watherstone), 1999)
This is a story about personal freedom, government intransigence, political bureaucracy, and justice. It is adapted from Terence Rattigan's 1946 play about such a case of family loyalty in 1910 England. It is distinguished by Mamet's sharp dialogue and a cast that is just outstanding. The Edwardian-aged story is chocked full of sensibility and rife with a tautness to it that keeps you fully tuned into its dramatics.The real trial of the 13-year-old English naval student expelled from the Osborne Naval Academy because he stole a five-shilling postal order was a big deal in the London headlines at that time. It was called the trial of the century in England, with the public taking sides with the wrongly accused youngster.
The film version of that event takes liberties with the real story. It begins in 1912, on a rainy London day, in the immaculate sitting room in the capacious early-century house of the Winslow's. We are introduced to the family patriarch, Arthur Winslow (Nigel Hawthorne), his dignified wife Grace (Gemma), the unsuccessful brother Dickie (Matthew Pidgeon), the liberated, cigarette smoking, suffragette Catherine Winslow (Rebecca Pidgeon) and her army officer fiancé John Watherstone (Aden Gillett). Catherine soon discovers her 14-year-old brother, Ronnie (Guy Edwards) standing in the garden, soaken wet and frightened. He shows her the letter of his expulsion from the school, begging her not to tell his banker father, who so much wanted him to attend that prestigious school. But when the father finds out about his dismissal, he asks only one thing of his son: Tell me the truth, Did you do it? When he professes his innocence the entire family backs him, and they decide to take this seemingly trivial matter to court and to parliament. This will prove to be a great burden on the father economically and physically, it will also strain the relationship of Catherine and John, Dickie will have to leave college for a job at the bank, and it will cause Grace to cutback on her social obligations.
Sir Robert Morton (Jeremy Northam,), the country's top attorney, is asked by the family to defend the boy and save the Winslow's name from disgrace. He turns out to be a better and more feeling lawyer than what Catherine expected of him, which adds even more weight to the already intriguing story. He is also a great actor, able to act with a proper Edwardian sophistication as a very specially gifted and contentious lawyer. His motives for taking the case had been suspect. But when he secretly turns down a highly honored post to continue with the case, even though those in-the-know about such things, think he doesn't have much chance of winning, Catherine is convinced that she has found a new love in her life.
The Winslow Boy answers both the legal and moral questions it asks about this case. Its legal theme "Let justice be done" really equates in this particular case to doing the right thing legally, which is acquitting the youngster. So as Arthur states, "Let right be done." While on the moral question, the hurt father, whose pride had been injured, pursues vindication even though he realizes that Ronnie is happy in his new school and what he is doing to his family almost borders on irresponsibility on his part. Yet there is such grace and forthrightness in the father's demeanor, that he stands out as a sympathetic and lovable giant of a person. Nigel Hawthorne was simply brilliant in this role, conveying an urbane wit and a strong backbone for taking on the fight for a cause he believes in with all his heart.
This is just a wonderful and an almost flawless film (the only flaw: the likable family seemed so smug with their upper-class status). David Mamet has done a masterful job in directing someone else's words to its fullest potential. On paper, the outline for this story and its denouement, do not suggest how great a work this film turned out to be. Even its old-fashioned story is more modern than it first appears to be. Don't miss this one. You might have to wait a long time before you find a film with both a family and a lawyer portrayed in such a genuine and likable mold. It was delightfully startling to watch the nuances every character performed, as they held their emotions in check by their keen intellect. Yet what came through even more than their perseverance, was that underneath, in their bellies, there were all sorts of emotions taking place that we could see overtly in their character. We could feel it in the sexual tension between Catherine and Sir Robert, in the father's unspoken love for his family, and in the mother's quiet humanity.
REVIEWED ON 6/22/99 GRADE: A
Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"
http://www.sover.net/~ozus
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