Dec 11, 2008 11:44 AM
2693 Views
(Updated Dec 11, 2008 03:35 PM)
Play sweet the Welsh harp,
Music to cheer the marching soul.
The sound of battle cry,
Brave Welsh fighter's wounded fall,
To die for Wales, the land of song.
I have always been fascinated by the Irish, Scots and Welsh. there is a certain romanticism about them which never fails to take my hearts on flights of imagination.Who can resist the charm of a happy go lucky Irishman, or a bagpipe toting Scot, or a quirky, arrogant yet whimsical Welsh. Again, one Englishman who is full of dishevelled charm is Hugh Grant, whom I have adored since Four Weddings and a Funeral, and whose awkwardness I absolutely fell head over heels in love with in Nottinghill. So when I saw this strangely titled movie scheduled for Sunday, I was in two minds, but then Hugh Grant won me over. and how!
The movie starts with an old man recounting to his grandson a cherished local tale about an Englishman called Mr Anson(Hugh Grant). Set in 1917, at the height of World War I, the story begins with the arrival of two Englishmen in a small town, where the dominant point of pride is the local mountain. In fact, one of the strange quirks about the town is that many of the dwellers lack proper surnames and instead are identified by their occupations or personal characteristics, eg Ivor the Grocer or Johny Shellshocked.
The two Englishmen(Grant, Ian McNiece), nailed as outsiders at the very beginning by their accents and clothing, are surveyors out to map the town, and their work entails calculating the height of the beloved mountain. When it turns out, that Ffynnon Garw(try pronouncing it:-p) is a tad short of the 1000 feet necessary to be deemed a mountain on official maps, all of the townspeople forget their differences in their indignant anger. *"How could we face those who survived the war, " one man passionately puts it, "if we lost the mountain?" *This threat even unites the unlikeliest allies, the fiery Rev. Jones(Kenneth Griffith), the guardian of local morality, and the biggest sinner around, innkeeper Morgan the Goat(Colm Meaney), who has taken unfair romantic advantage of the village's wartime lack of able-bodied men.
A brilliant plan is hatched, whereby, fifteen feet need to be added to the "hill". But to assure mountain status on the map, the Englishmen, who are readying to go back to England need to stay back, to re-measure, so the townspeople conspire to detain them until the hill has grown high enough, leading to many a comic scenes, which actually need to be seen to be believed. Mechanic Tommy Twostrokes takes apart the engine of the surveyors' car. The stationmaster claims that no trains stop in town when Anson and Garrad inquire about tickets. Morgan asks Betty of Cardiff(Tara Fitzgerald) to divert Anson from his professional obligations.
Its quite ironical, that I saw the movie for Hugh Grant, and later on realised that he was just one part of the movie, in fact his role could have been played by any actor, and the movie would have lost none of its charm. the backbone of the movie are the Welsh, the hard, arrogant, whimsical poetic people who just refused bow to the English. In fact the real hero is the script, which is quite endearing, and the director Christopher Monger, an Irishman himself. The movie is quite slow, but somehow it works its magic on you like the mesmerising sound of raindrops on a tin roof. I know its rich coming from me, who likes to write paeons as on ode to things I like, but there's nothing much to write, since the movie is simple, uncomplicated and believable, reaffirming my faith in the old adage, "God lies in simplicity".
The musical score of the movie is whimsical, delightful and almost magical, suiting the Welsh flavor of the film. Comprising of bagpipes, flutes and sundry other instruments, its a score to savor.
What will happen in the end? Will the villagers be able to defend their flagging pride by ensuring the hill converts to the mountain? Will anything come of the budding romance between Anson and Betty? Would the two antagonists(reverend and Morgan the Goat) resolve their differences for good? See the movie to find out.
There are times, when you are troubled, nothing seems right, you tend to pass your days as an automation, and all of a sudden, something- a sign maybe, gives you hope, bolsters your flagging courage, and soothes your heart, putting a wry yet optimistic smile on your face, and better still, in your heart. Somehow, the sight of those men, women and kids doing anything and everything in their power to defend their pride and honour, to make sure that their mountain remained just that, a mountain, their refusal to give up in face of adversity or a mighty enemy filled my heart with such hope, words fail me. Its a movie which goes as deep as you want it to, yet leaves you with a heart thats light, and a resolve which is strentghened, never to give up, not ever.
