kai

Another Country

ever since the start of the year i have been consistently consuming media about sad boarding school/college gay boys... what has my life come to

pleiades

Another Country

❝It was his smile. It-- it made me dizzy. Everything beautiful is slightly lopsided.❞ ∘₊──── • ♧ • ✧ • ♧ • ────₊∘ I have little knowledge of Guy Burgess and the Cambridge Five, so initially I was a bit confused by the plot, but I ended up liking Another Country. The majority of the film takes place in a very typical old British boarding school where students perpetuate the class system of British society (with no consequences), preparing themselves to continue to perpetuate it when they enter the real world (on a side note I've yet to watch a film about a British boarding school that didn't make it look like straight-up Hell). And of course, you have to add in homosexuality that is at once everywhere and repressed. It was strange to see students openly admitting to it or expressing similar thoughts but also living in fear of being exposed, and it is inherently linked to wealth and status. For example, the 'Gods' of the houses at the school have engaged in salacious activities with other guys, but lord over the others and exert heavy hypocrisy on those lower than them and caught. The 'Gods' and prefect system takes advantage of the younger, weaker students (I felt so bad for Wharton), keeping them in check through fear. Among it all, you have Guy Bennett (Rupert Everett), the only openly gay student at the school, and his painfully Marxist friend Tommy Judd (Colin Firth). It's clear from the very beginning that the atmosphere of the school is less than accepting or forgiving, and it leads to a very painful scene. You can't help but feel sympathetic towards Bennett, having to quietly suppress the distress and fear of being in the same situation, and as the film progresses, his character slowly becomes more and more disillusioned; his cheerful optimism and wise cracks give way to crushed acceptance, and Everett gave the best performance of the cast, in my opinion. I do wish, though, that more of his romance with Harcourt (played by Cary Elwes) was explored, because they were so sweet and gentle with each other. It wasn't explored in the film, but I can understand why he would defect to Russia, the country where the ideologies his friend once revered were practiced, and somewhere he wasn't restricted by the rules of upper-class England. Judd was an interesting character; his enthusiasm for communism and Marxist ideologies is, of course, mildly amusing, especially in comparison to Bennett's almost sunny-natured disposition. But I jumped between respect and slight resentment, because although it's admirable that he sticks so closely to his morals, it took him too long to accept a prefect position that he wouldn't have to truly participate in and one that would benefit his friend. And even after everything that transpires, and having known Bennett closely for a while, he is still unaccepting of his friend's sexuality. Unconsciously, he still plays into the class system he abhores, the one that depends on conformity and reputation, and has no place for a dreamer like Bennett. I will say that the cinematography is stunning. Maybe it's just something that's common to 80s films, but the mellow colour palette was truly gorgeous and worked very well against the bleak background of the school, as well as the more scenic natural locations. I'm a huge sucker for suits and sweaters, so obviously I loved the outfits. Young Rupert Everett and Colin Firth were beautiful; there's really no other word to describe their messy, floppy hair and fresh faces mixed with their soft upper-class Received Pronunciation, and they melted my heart. It's so cool that four very famous actors started out performing in the play (like my king Daniel Day-Lewis); I'd love to watch a production of the play to understand any intricacies that were left out in this adaptation.

josie

Another Country

for a movie about a commie and a gay guy who turns into a russian spy, this sure is bland.

ron

Another Country

I say this a lotbut: this was not gay enough. ANOTHER COUNTRY is like…diet James Ivory. And as much as I feel it tried to capture that aesthetic (Maurice, in particular) it just doesn’t reach those heights or that level of intimacy. It also doesn’t really have a well developed/compelling narrative to me. It got one thing right though, comrades are a gay’s best friend.