Too much of everything

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The first must-see film of the year.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Set 100 years ago (it's 2018 now) it tells the story of a young lad who has moved to the Cotswolds during the era of the 'great war'. While the Triple Entente and the Central Powers were slaughtering each other by the millions, the villagers of Slad have their own problems to attend to. The BBC have seen fit to trot out all the familiar ubiquitous faces to take part in this unnecessary nonsense and the result is dire. The book is both brutal and comedic in equal measures, but this TV film is neither. There are now THREE TV movies of this book and they are all bad, but this is the worst. In 2015, Timothy Spall starred in one that was marginally better than this and way back in 1971 there was a half decent version made watchable because of the magnificent casting, attention to set detail and the collaboration of the author of the book.This, however borders on being offensive.

In 1975, the BBC made a film version of Cider with Rosie, also approved by Laurie Lee, and featuring Rosemary Leach as the mother. The earlier production is a triumph compared to this one, with a wonderful semi-impressionistic view of this dramatisation of English village life after the first world war.In the 1975 version, look for example at the final shot where we see the young Laurie passing the real life elderly Laurie. What a glorious touch! Fortunately I have the first version on tape (and now preserved on a DVD!). This later version, sadly, is strictly run of the mill made-for-TV drama compared to the 1975 one, which was produced by Eileen Diss and scripted by Hugh Whitemore, 2 of the BBC's greatest!.

This film is faithful to the book, perhaps too keen to get all the book into the film. Lee like Hardy evokes an England that hadn't changed for a 1000 years and was about to change for ever. They lived in a small village, where the rest of the world might not existed. He doesn't show this life as idyllic.Don't forget to read the book!