Writer and director Christian Kinde dedicates a film to British heroes of the war in Afghanistan though this is an actual theme, with its own market and public that is oftenly approached by filmmakers.
Director Christian Kinde makes a good job catching a volunteer’s drama: leaving his family behind, changing a normal life for a life of discipline in the army, leaving a love affair for the sake of others and all the other afferent issues.
And still, that is not what Christian Kinde excels in. Actually the best part about this film is the love affair between the recruit – Joe, and his – we infer – ex-girlfriend, who is now in another relationship. The tension between them builds up very well and is very believable, they look like two people that still like each other but find it very hard to be as they used to be. You are left under the impression that Joe might still have a chance to get her back but he doesn’t know the procedure, he’s just trying to execute the steps and jump to the last – this we think is the most beautifully screened part of the film: it is the things that Joe does and says until the very moment he is trying to show he wants her back.
Obviously his main drama is that he changed love for war, and the girl, Jen is the reason he came back for in the first place – which we think it’s kind of rare for such films. Joe is the kind that left the army because he realized the army would be the same without him and because he wanted ‘to see’ Jen. But he obviously doesn’t understand the ultimatum he’s sending her by his way of being.
His drama is actually that his heart would want to have both love and war. Love is what his heart is aching for and war is what his hands do.
The title is well chosen and has an important hint: ‘All’s Well’, if I can’t have one, I’ll have the other. And let’s pretend the other is just as fine.
So is this about love? Yes. Is it about Afghanistan and the ordinary soldier drama? Yes. But it is also about what a man knows to do and the sacrifice that comes with it.
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