verbusen I really enjoyed this film. I saw it as "Regeneration" (not Behind The Lines which a reviewer said was shortened) which Amazon video recommended to me since I am a history buff and have been watching a lot of military documentaries there. I am a military veteran (US, served in Iraq), and have had nightmares in the past according to my wife, so when I watch programs about veterans I am emotionally more involved and usually in a more powerful way than a typical drama. It was a cathartic experience and a good cry for me. The film was very very interesting early on but all the different characters and a long playing time made me lose interest in spots. Watching it at home at my leisure was an added distraction.The moment that really impacted me was with John Neville's character using electro-shock in a tortuous way, very dramatic and hard to watch. I have no idea how accurate this film is (it doesn't seem very accurate with my perception of the early 1900's mental treatments, but maybe England was more advanced and war does advance medicine faster that peacetime does not), but it was a good watch for me. Great acting all around! Recommended for military drama fans, 9 of 10.

rps-2 A stupendous film that quietly captures the futility, the absurdity, the grimness and the desperation of the third year of World War I. The acting is low key. Everything is shot in brownish tones that evoke the era. Even the weather is bleak. The general mood and tone of the film is all enveloping. The settings, the costumes and the props all seem accurate. Everything comes to-gether beautifully. In actual fact, I do not believe that the mental health of British troops was treated as compassionately i n the first war as this film portrays. Shell shock was usually dismissed as LMF (Lack of moral fiber.) No matter. It is still a gripping, powerful film with the same appeal a thoughtful stage play on the same subject might convey.

cosm7x This was an excellent movie. Amazing photography and casting and anintelligent scenario which passes messages about how horrific war isto the audience in the mildest yet touching way I've seen. The story involves a hospital in Scotland where officers are sent whenthey suffer a breakdown, a common phenomenon in the first and secondworld wars. In there, a doctor (played by Jonathan Pryce) attempts totreat his patients in a more humane way than the one other doctors ofthe time choose. Through the stories of characters in the hospital --including Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, two poets who happen tomeet and become friends in the hospital -- the life of the Britishsoldiers in the first World War, as well as several political messagesabout that affecting era for humanity are successfully transmitted tothe audience, without blood, without effects or huge battle scenes ina way that touches and indicates its significance more than any otherfilm I've seen about the subject. The performances are excellent, with Johny Lee Miller -- who apartfrom this movie has not shown any signs of serious acting that I'veseen -- delivering a very good performance of a shocked and ambitiousofficer and Jonathan Pryce metaphorically accepting the ideas ofSassoon -- who opposes to the war after a point where he realises itsfutility and the lack of values in the politicians driving it -- canbe though as the link between the soldiers and humanity itself. It is definitely a movie I would recommend! Excellent.

George Parker Shell shock, war neurosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, or whatever you want to call it is the principle issue in this film which focuses on a psychiatrist and two of his patients in a British War Hospital during WWI. Additionally, the film delves into the matter of war and it's age old paradox...why must we participate in something so universally offensive. The film, a polished and civilized production with fine talent, tends to spread itself too thin with flashbacks, a smattering of romance, some tangential male bonding, poetry, musings, reflections, etc. resulting in a luke warm examination of a powerfully compelling issue.