pt_spam_free We showed this yesterday to the afternoon audience of our local community cinema, here in Shropshire (UK). None of us had seen it, but the IMDb reviews seemed to suggest that we should be brave and try it -how right they were.Most of our audience, but not all, are over 70 years old, so they lived through the period that the film focuses upon, and some were even bringing up their own kids at about that time. One such said to me afterwards, "it's quite astonishing, I really had no idea that this kind of thing was going on in our England. Where we were living, it seemed a different world. It (the film) was just so powerful - an amazing experience."This has to rank as another of those truly top class British films that addresses in such professional, sensitive, fearless, and powerful fashion the rather discomforting world of racism and bigotry (like "Secrets & Lies"). For this audience of people even more wrinkly than me to give it an average of 8.5 says so much for it. They despise the gratuitous violence that fills so much of today's screen-time, they disdain sex scenes that are sordidly porn-think, and they can't bear noise for noise's sake, so this (as a film that was definitely NOT just entertainment) was very special indeed in achieving an 8.5 rating.

malcolmgsw I missed this film on its release.Not surprising given the nature of the theme and its awful title.This film disappeared from view almost immediately but resurfaced on Channel 4 over Christmas. The film has its heart in the right place and it is a charming story but it has nothing to do with the reality of the period,assuming this to be around the late 50s or early 60s.What i find to be so disappointing about this film is how little the Producers seem to have researched orthodox Judaism.The family are shown praying in an orthodox synagogue,yet the wife is wearing fairly bright colours and is not wearing a wig.The likelihood of a woman from an Orthodox family committing adultery was unthinkable.Also it would be unthinkable to allow a child to go out to any sport or entertainment on a Saturday.In short it is just totally implausible.

brewsterlewster This is a gem of a film which was the opener for the Maine Jewish Film Festival. But it is not about just one of these topics. It is a wondrous story which could take place anywhere in the world. The film succeeds because it uses tired themes ("there goes the neighborhood") and puts a fresh slant on them with terrific acting and cinematography. You do not have to know anything about any of the subjects, Jamaica, Judiasm or cricket, but you will learn something about humanity when seeing this film. Sure, it is not perfect but it is rare to see a bigger budget film handle these themes so well. This film is definitely worth seeking out.

Ion Martea "Wondrous Oblivion" is a film that has as its motive one of the most boring sports out there (at least for those who don't play it) – cricket. Thankfully, Paul Morrison's second feature, after the award winning "Solomon and Gaenor" (1999), is not about cricket at all.We are given a coming of age story of a Jewish boy, David (Sam Smith), born in the family of two Holocaust survivors in the 1950s England: Victor (Stanley Townsend), a Polish émigré, and a very young Ruth (Emily Woof), coming from Germany. The boy has an empowering passion for cricket, obvious from his massive card collection of cricket celebrities. However, he is totally rubbish at it. His destiny is to change when a Jamaican émigré family comes next door, and sets up an improvised cricket court. Dennis Samuels (Delroy Lindo) teaches the boy the craftsmanship of the sport, and becomes a close friend of David.All seems a very familiar bad-sportsman-turns-great story, but Morrison's script is ingenious enough not to fall in the stereotypical Hollywood film-making. The boy doesn't end up the great sportsman that we all wish him to be, but learns something greater, something more important in the process. And this is the 'wondrous oblivion' the author intended to deliver… The 1960s as a whole becomes a decade of surprising changes and animosity, and yet all characters seem to remain static in their conception of their beliefs.This is a good film, and it is worth seeing for the original cinematography and a moving performance from Emily Woof ("Passion", "The Full Monty"), which steals the whole film. Watch out for the dance scene with Lindo, which is dominated both by passion, and religious taboos, and it is surprisingly sexy. The only three problems in the movie are the simplicity with each the Holocaust theme is being treated, the poor knowledge of Jewish faith, as well as the stereotypical two-dimensionality of the entire supporting cast. But this applies only for a picky audience."Wondrous Oblivion" is one of those films that one cannot dislike, or at least loathe. Pacing, beautiful, and quite funny really.