The Great Escaper

A fabulous cast with amazing performances demonstrating why Jackson and Caine are so highly regarded. Covers many difficult topics - longevity, friendship, guilt, trauma, illness, alcoholism, forgiveness and redemption. My husband and I both cried on a number of occasions, but there was also some great humour - we laughed, we cried, we enjoyed the cinematography. I'm not sure it was a true reflection of the average care home, it all seemed a bit too lovely. An effective juxtaposition with the couple as their younger selves, which was well cast. My only criticism was I felt the shoe horning into the plot of the traumatised much younger modern soldier didn't really work and for some reason those scenes jarred. It felt like an editor had requested the writers add them in later and it didn't quite work. A lovely film, but take some tissues.

An absolutely beautiful film about the thrilling true story of Bernard Jordan, a veteran who travelled alone to the beaches of Normandy in order to pay respects to his fallen comrades. He meets some fellow veterans on his way, an unknowingly becomes a news icon!

The stunning visuals and cinematography are choreographed in such a way to bring out a deep emotional response. I often don't cry at films, but there were a handful of scenes in The Great Escaper that made me shed tears.

There are elements of romance, war drama, and comedy throughout the film, as well as brilliant performances all around, which makes for an enjoyable watch for many.

However, the pacing was way too fast in my opinion. The film is about an hour and a half long, but I feel it would've been better suited to be two hours or two and a half hours.

If you fancy a trip to the cinema, The Great Escaper should be high on your priority list!

Having missed an organised trip to the 70th anniversary of The D-Day landings, 90 year old Bernard John makes his own way to France, leaving behind his wife and care home.

I suppose I'd start by saying that I didn't want this film to end, magical from beginning to end. Bernard's story touched many people, I remember it being on The BBC news back in 2014.

They could have made the film overly sentimental or too sobre, but they struck the perfect mix, it's heartfelt, touching, inspiring and amusing, it's such a moving, real life story.

Several times it tugged away at the heart strings, the most powerful moment for me where Bernard say with The Germans, I had a lump in my throat.

The acting was truly incredible, it's the best I've seen from Michael Caine for many years, the emotion he put into this was quite something. What a send of for the late, great Glenda Jackson, again, a superb performance, the chemistry between her and Caine was noticeable.

John Standing also added to the mix, another actor who'd graced our screens for so long, wonderful.

One I'll happily watch over.

10/10.

The world will probably never forget the Normandy landings for a variety of reasons.

1 of those is because it was a time of huge sacrifice, pain and suffering, leading to joyous success.

But then despite lives lived in the intervening years by the survivors, the story of sacrifice, pain and suffering continues for all concerned.

"There's no escape for anyone", but at least those who survived "Made a life worth living".

The roles of Bernard and Irene were played with such nuance and intelligence by Caine and Jackson that it brought me to tears. 90 and 87 years old respectively and they still act with such grace and authenticity. They reminded me of what made this country and what helped make the world a relatively peaceful place afterwards.

But people like Bernard live an unseen life, with all of their memories usually forgotten when they die. Which is sad because war is about people, experiences, and memories, and when the people die the memories die with them.

This film should stand as a tribute to the very few who are left, and remind us to make a life, so that the ones who lost their lives didn't do so in vain.

A film that is quite emotional as a D-Day veteran 'escapes' the confines (not in a jailbreak sense) of his care home to attend the 70th anniversary in France, causing a media frenzy in the process!

Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson give wonderful performances as the elderly couple in the care home, Caine playing Bernie the veteran in question and Jackson, Rene his devoted wife who covers up for him as much as possible and encourages him to follow his destiny.

I am used to seeing the two actors in their pomp in sixties and seventies films so this is quite a change.

Look out for good supporting performances from the care home staff and fellow D-Day veterans some with their own demons.

The film uses brief flashback timelines to show the horrors of the D-Day events in the Second World War. However the film is not all excising demons and dwelling on past stressful events. There is plenty of humour as Bernie (Caine) makes the trip and meets up with fellow vets both Allied and German.