Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

This film suffers a bit from being a cheap TV movie - historically its a tad rough around the edges and the storyline is predictable and at times even a little dull. The crux of the story is about the strained relationship between a war bride who arrives at a broken down farm in Alberta, the home of her husband's family, in 1943. Her whirlwind courtship, marriage and pregnancy is not met with approval from the Canadian family and although they loosen up towards her, it takes two years to do so. During this time there are many scenes where you just want something more to happen other than whispered snide comments and hate-filled glares. I am not quite sure why this particular story was chosen as the characters don't really engage each other. Brenda Fricker was almost wasted in her role as the husband's mother but even though she was given few lines she still managed to steal most of the scenes! From real accounts I have read, there were jealous and snippy Canadians who felt some of the English war brides were predatory fortune hunters and there were equally as many English war brides who saw Canadians as prudish and uncultured hicks. However, there were far more stories of love and support, and appreciation and adaptability. I know this film needed drama and used a storyline that would provide this but the film would have benefited from some real events relayed from war bride memoirs. I suspect the story was written with little research from period accounts and that's too bad because there is a wealth of material out there that would have made for some great scenes.Regardless, I still think the film needed to be made and I am glad somebody did it. It was overall enjoyable to watch.

I loved this Movie. It was warm and emotional but deep and thoughtful as well. Great performances all around. Anna Friel is wonderful in this film. She is full of life. A powerful performance. Should have won an Oscar. Everything about this movie, the photograph the, production design, the music, the costumes, the acting, all was perfect. My grand mother was a war bride in Canada and had a similar life to Lilly's. It was hard but they had no options. Anyway this is a movie every one should see.

I have just watched this film and I think it is brilliant. It begins with Lily (Anna Friel) meeting Charlie (a Canadian soldier) at a dance. She is swept off her feet and they are soon married. Charlie promises that he will get her away from London and look after her. As Charlie goes back to Europe to fight, Lily gives birth to a girl and soon after receives a letter instructing her to go and live with her Mother and Sister in-law in Canada. Charlie has led her to believe that he lives on a big Canadian ranch. However this is a slight exaggeration! Without giving to much away she is not made to feel welcome by any of Charlie's family or friends, but wins over their friendship by just being kind and human. Just as she wins them over, Charlie returns from the war, a broken man. The film portrays the emotions of wartime and you feel for every character involved in the film. I cannot recommend it enough. Anna Friel was excellent!If you love 1940's era films, this is a must.

The film makers have orchestrated a profound and moving journey, a film in which ideas and themes emerge from the interaction of human beings, and not in competition with them. Anna Friel, Brenda Fricker and Molly Parker form as potent a feminine triumvirate as the movies have seen in a very long time, powerful actresses who bring as much richness to the film's silences as to its words.Superficially, the film could be seen as yet another variation on the "liberating outsider" scenario (a popular feminist theme exploited most recently in "Chocolat"), although in "The War Bride" there is considerably more going on than Lily simply teaching her in-laws how to cut loose and live a little. The weightier theme, which develops steadily throughout the film, deals with the inescapable effects of a global war and the extent to which a conflict can still wreak emotional havoc on those furthest removed from actual combat.