Military Wives
A feel-good-do-good film that attempts to inspire us again, just as its director, Peter Cattaneo, once stole our hearts with his masterpiece, The Full Monty.
But this one substitutes singing women instead of stripping men. The group of women with various ages, stories and backgrounds have one thing in common: Their husbands are being deployed to war in Afghanistan. So why not sing about it? Songs worked for TV’s Glee and the American film, Pitch Perfect.
In this delightfully British film about ‘unsung’ heroes, we learn the power of song and how it can transform us emotionally. While the women try to pass time with coffee mornings and moor walking, Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas) wife of a high-ranking officer, forms a choir/chorus group. It’s the job of the staff sergeant’s wife to organize ‘morale’ events like book clubs, knitting clubs, whatever. There’s initial tension as the other women are not too keen on Kate, at least at the start. An HSN addict (Home Shopping Network) Kate’s lost her son to war, so she’s a pro at the pain of deployment when Richard (Greg Wise) her husband, the Colonel, is sent off to war for a fifth tour. Kate is seasoned, refined and sophisticated compared to the rest, and especially compared to Lisa (Sharon Horgan) an Irish lass whose patience is stretched; Lisa’s husband deployment means six more months of being a single mother. It also means raising her husband’s daughter (India Ria Amarteifio) a difficult teenager.
Kate wants a professional approach to conducting her singing choir, while Lisa wants it all ad lib. Together the two create a believable competitive nature, that will eventually become more bent on camaraderie. “Remember,” Kate declares, “Every successful choir is just a bad choir that didn’t give up.”
Sure, it’s a bit formulaic and predictable, but Scott Thomas is her usual and delightful self, stealing every scene in which she shines. Beautiful, witty, whip smart and known for more serious dramas, we learn that in addition, she can sing, too, with vocal cords that could land her on Broadway. She’s so perfect, we may just have to kill her! Wink.
There is a pivotal and poignant moment in the movie – where Ave Maria is sung – and the story’s tone is taken more seriously. Scott Thomas displays a necessary albeit ambivalent support to a sudden wife receiving bad news. It’s her dialog’s delivery of emotions that makes us imagine what it might really be like to be on the inside as a war wife. If the film does one thing, it’s to remind us the brutalities of the wives who stay home panicking every time the doorbell rings or the phone rings, dreading the worst. And in a time of hatred, racial tension and COVID 19, do we really need another violent film or a mindless superhero movie? No. Isn’t this just the ticket to remind us that joining forces in kindness and love is what we need right now? Yes. Apparently, The Full Monty made its mark years ago as the UK nation buried their Princess Diana. It was a reason to laugh and smile. Music and comedy in a time of crisis, this earnest little film does the same.
Military Wives will long be remembered as one of those charming British films in the vein of the most beloved English ensembles like Calendar Girls, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, except that most of the cast – instead of being movie stars – feel like everyday girls. (Scott Thomas aside.) Based on a true story, now there are Military wife choirs all over the world. Their lives also went on to inspire BBC’s The Choir: Military Wives.
Three tiaras