BENEDICTION
A
Film by Terence Davies
Written and directed by
acclaimed filmmaker Terence Davies, BENEDICTION explores the turbulent life of
WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden). The writer and soldier was a complex
man who survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War and was
decorated for his bravery but who became a vocal critic of the government’s
continuation of the war when he returned from service. His poetry was inspired
by his experiences on the Western Front, and he became one of the leading war
poets of the era. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of
London’s literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as
he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality. At the same time, broken
by the horror of war, he made his life’s journey a quest for salvation, trying
to find it within the conformity of marriage and religion. (UK/USA, 2021, 137min., PG-13, English | Dir. Terence Davies)
