The title of this blog doesn’t refer to our sick PM – no, no, no – rather it refers to a 10 out of 10 film I watched last night, which made me blubber throughout the second half. Though it felt juxtaposed to watch a film whilst the heroes in our NHS are at war, with 260 people losing their lives yesterday, I’ll remember that film, always.
The premise is that a family – husband and wife and their six children – isolate themselves in a forest in the US, with no connection with the outside world. Thriving in their self-built accommodation, hunting for food, growing vegetables, and playing instruments in the evening – life was rosy. Educationally, the children read literature many years more advance than what is “normal”, with their father playing the part of an Oxford Don coupled with Bear Grylls.
Undisputedly, the father is the boss, though the family appear comfortable with his strict regime, which included sprints through the forest and mountain climbing in the rain.
The children were athletic, collegiate and brave. No bickering. Who wouldn’t want such children? Which father wouldn’t want to be that dad? Father envy, I had: there was no task he couldn’t do.
But where was mum? It transpired that mother was in hospital, suffering from a mental health condition. When mum commits suicide, the family undertake a road trip to attend her funeral. I won’t write any more about the plot.
I cannot adequately put into words what it was that made me blubber more than I have ever done. Watching it during this weird period of time, perhaps heightened my reaction. Isolation, home schooling, death, joy, with a reliance on family from afar, all made for a gripping watch. It had all the best ingredients from The Beach, The History Boys, Dead Poet’s Society, Road Trip. Watch it and weep, both in joy and in sorrow.
