Hope and Glory

Hope and Glory is a semiautobiographical drama written and directed by John Boorman, based on his own childhood memories of Britain during World War II. Seen largely through the eyes of a young boy, the film follows a London-area family whose ordinary suburban life is disrupted when the father goes off to serve in the army, leaving his wife and children to carry on at home. For the children, the war brings excitement rather than fear: school is interrupted, bomb debris becomes a commodity to trade, and the nightly raids look like entertainment. The adults around them face a different reality, coping with separation, loss and hardship while the family's daily routines and relationships shift.

Boorman made the film in 1987, placing it between The Emerald Forest and The General, after earlier work including Point Blank, Deliverance and Excalibur. Sebastian Rice-Edwards plays Bill, with Geraldine Muir as Sue, Sarah Miles as Grace, David Hayman as Clive, Sammi Davis as Dawn and Derrick O'Connor as Mac, among a credited cast of 36. The production was handled by Columbia Pictures, Goldcrest and Nelson Entertainment, and it took about 10 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3/10 from roughly 16,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9/10 from a much smaller 224 votes. A critics' rating of 8.4/10 from 28 reviews places it well above both audience scores.