The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp I just want to say at the beginning that no matter how many times Powell and Pressberger show me that they are not telling the run-of-the-mill, expected storyline, yet I still fall into their trap. This bugs me in the most pleasant way.
Technical—5/5—Although not as spectacular as Black Narcissus or The Red Shoes, P and P are nothing if not technical marvels. Not a single frame out of place.
Interest—5/5—I was most bored at the beginning, trying to get past the whole bio-pic frame. However, the life is so well told and so many excellent themes are brought in, I was soon drawn in. And, frankly, this is not the story of a single life, but of a relationship between two men who, given their life context, has a lot of strikes against it. This is a complex story, with a wonderful composition. How could I not be fascinated?
Tension—4/5—Not a lot of points of tension, but enough to make the story great. How will the love triangle work itself out? Can the friendship be spared through two great wars? I love the way P and P allow us to draw our own conclusions as to the significance of each event, rather than giving exposition.
Emotional—4/5—There is a lot to be emotional about, but the stoic nature of the men involved prevent one from really seeing their emotion and so one’s own emotion is limited. Still, it is there.
Characters—5/5—I wish I could express how well these characters are portrayed. I honestly never want to see this film remade because I cannot imagine anyone portraying Candy, Theo or Edith—Deborah Kerr at her best and that is an amazing statement!—better than they are portrayed. Anyone else attempting to play these characters would ruin them.
Theme—5/5—To reduce this film to a single theme is to minimalize it. There is a message about war—one that is so complex that I had to look at the date again to be sure that this film was really made during WWII (certainly not propaganda!). There is a message about growing older and facing new ideas. There is the anti-Nazi message which is gratefully short, but a more important message about true patriotism. And a bittersweet message about regrets. It all may be focused under a single theme, but it feels more like a real life rather than a bio pic. This would be a marvelous “desert island” film because there is so much here to tease out, it is worth many rewatchings.
Ethics—5/5—Like the theme, there isn’t a single unified ethical point nor does it seek to preach or give ethical answers. Yet ethics pervade the film—war isn’t all wrong, but it isn’t all right, either. Candy is at one point foolish, another noble, even by holding to the same principle. Teasing out the ethical implications of this film would take a lot of effort, which is one of the glories of it.
Personal—4/5—I haven’t had any of the experiences of Candy. I’ve never been in war, never been a hero, never been in any kind of love triangle, never had a friendship like Candy and Theo’s. But one thing I can say: every person is as complex as Candy is portrayed here. And should anyone wish to tell my story, I would wish it were as complex as this story is told.
I wish that this was the structure that most bio-pics were based on. I wish that we could see through our stereotypes of individuals and see them as well-rounded persons as this film does. Every individual human is a culture, an entire species. I wish we could see them all this way. Yeah, it’s probably going on my top 100.