Hope and Glory

Hope and Glory (1987) is a British war drama by John Boorman, available to watch online on iFILM. Boorman drew on his own childhood memories to make it: London under the Blitz, as experienced by a nine-year-old boy for whom the bombed-out streets are less catastrophe than playground.

Billy (Sebastian Rice-Edwards) watches his father ship off to the front and his mother (Sarah Miles) struggle to keep the household together — but mostly he's thrilled about the gaps in the rubble where new games can be invented. An uncle back on his grandfather's riverside estate provides a different kind of escape: life there seems to have decided the war isn't worth the bother. The film belongs to the category of serious war pictures that never actually feel like suffering — the child's point of view is protective, and Boorman commits to it completely.

The film picked up five BAFTA nominations and competed at the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture. It stands alongside Empire of the Sun as one of the rare wartime films where the camera stays at eye level with a kid rather than the generals. Stream Hope and Glory online on iFILM.