2012-09-20

kindkit: Text icon: "British officers do not cuddle each other. (Not when there are people watching, anyway.") ('Allo 'Allo: British officers do not cud)
2012-09-20 01:26 pm

new Yuletide fandom?

Last night I watched The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, which is rather wonderful even though its "we need total war NOW" argument is a disconcerting one. And actually the film is too complex for any simplistic reduction to a moral: total war may be necessary, but the film has a strong elegiac streak for Candy's worldview in which even war ought to be carried on with decency and honor. Though of course there's a nationalism in that, too, a particularly British nationalism that's about taking pride in one's own supposed moderation and fair play and fondly imagining that one's empire was built on those values. As I said, complicated.

The film is also pretty damn gay. Click here for discussion, with some plot details )