Testament of Youth film review “No to killing! No to war! No to revenge"

Testament of Youth film review
“No to killing! No to war! No to revenge! No monre!

Testament of Youth is a 2014 British drama film based on the First World War memoir of the same name written by Vera Brittain.

Testament of Youth Trailer

The film stars Alicia Vikander as Vera Brittain, an independent young woman who abandoned her Oxford studies to become a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. The film was directed by James Kent and written by Juliette Juliette Towhidi.

Testament of Youth film may well garner Oscar nominations for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design ; maybe Best Actress in a Leading Role.

The author of Testament of Youth

'Vera Brittain (1893–1970)'

In 1916, Vera Brittain was 22 years old. She lost her fiance, brother and two closest male friends in the first world war. She wrote 「Testament of Youth」 as a cry of outrage and agony, so that the futility of their deaths would be remembered. 

Vera Brittain herself had been working as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse tending to wounded servicemen for more than a year. She was physically exhausted, stricken with grief and in a near-constant state of heightened nervous apprehension, amid the chaos and trauma of war.

In the end the war did spare Vera Brittain, but everyone who she loved is dead. Their stories for a book, however, survived. It would later become 「Testament of Youth」, one of the most famous memoirs of the 20th century.

When it was finally published in August 1933, the book was an instant hit. Rebecca West wrote that it was "a vivid testimony". When it was later published in America, the New York Times reviewer wrote that Brittain's autobiographical account was "honest… revealing… heartbreakingly beautiful".

It remains deeply influential. The book seems to strike a chord with contemporary readers who have themselves lived through an era of renewed conflict and terror.

A most compelling 50 seconds of The Testament of Youth

A most compelling 50 seconds of the film is a pan of the muddy terrain adjacent to the huts serving as field-hospitals. The camera shot becomes wider and wider - to take in rows and rows of stretchers, and still more rows of stretchers, and still more, all bearing grievously-wounded soldiers.

The last words of A German soldier dying

Vera (Alicia Vikander) had to comfort a enemy soldier dying in their medical tent. She is just as moved by her ministrations to a dying German soldier, whose final agonies, she wrote later, were a crucial factor in leading her to be an antiwar activist for the rest of her life.

The man was who killed my son, brothers and husband, but he also was someone who beloved son, brothers and husband. The selfishness and greed of human seems to make someone's misfortune to call for a war. 

“No to killing! No to war!

No to revenge! No more!"

Vera Brittain became an active pacifist after experiencing the War and her message is loud and clear : “No to killing. No to war. No to revenge. No more.” 

This scene was strongly impressed on my memory.

The war took all Youth's lives,dreams, everything...

The war is NOT the solution. It is NOT a great honor to participate in the War. It is always the most stupid choice, never a good choice. 

After experiencing the War, One is left with the horrible feeling that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.

When it comes to war, it is not the presidents, ministers, or legislators who go to fight. It is the young men who go to fight and die. How will this regrettable death be compensated for?

No matter how necessary, The war is not the fundamental solution.

If you truly loved peace, your country and your family, You should all be working together for the ending war and for world peace.

image source : http://movie.naver.com/movie/bi/mi/photoView.nhn?code=123299