DISTANT BRIDGES is a wistful tale of deep friendship between two English lads of the so-called "Lost Generation" of World War One. Sometimes maudlin, sometimes stark, but often nostalgic and sweet, it recreates a time and place little conceivable to the generation today, for it was a time of strict morals, noble sentiments, and flawed but earnest people set against the then incomprehensible 'War To End All Wars' of 1914. A very good cast takes one into some sepia toned vignettes of a time when motor cars were new on the streets, the schools had wooden desks with ink wells, and a stolen teenage kiss was a shocking breach of form in the England and Empire of the day.
The secondary male lead, played by David East, narrates the story as a series of flashbacks upon the occasion of his centennial birthday and recounts the soul mate of his youth played by the lead, Richard Cambridge, a lovable rascal who stole the kiss from his girlfriend and later left her with his son. The skillful direction and wonderful recreation of the setting in an old English town meeting the new fact of distant war is richly detailed and forms part of the social panorama of this story of belonging, growth, duty, honor, and love and loss through many years and how the vicissitudes of life warp us and yet form us. The sweetness and innocence of youth in that day is contrasted with the brutality and futile carnage of war (though the images are never as gross as most contemporary films), yet the theme that life must go on continues through the fine photography and rich musical score. The film does what any good film does: it makes you care about the characters and wraps you up in their lives and times.
