One Against the Wind
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VHS Movie Reviews of One Against the Wind
Movie Review: Judy and Sam together again...
Summary: 4 Stars
Judy Davis and Sam Neill have appeared together in a number of films. They work so well together you think they must be like Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy--married in real life--but alas they are not. I first saw them in a film made 'down under' (I think they are both Australian) "My Brilliant Career." Sam was chasing Judy, and as usual she was spurning him. In this wonderful Hallmark Hall of Fame production, Judy Davis plays the Comtesse Mary Lindell, two-time winner of the 'Croix de Guerre' and Sam Neille plays a British pilot shot down over France in the early days of WWII who goes on to become a Brigadier General. The Comtesse Mary Lindell inadvertantly saves Neill--the downed pilot--and thereby hangs a tale.
The Comtesse Lindell is a heroine girls can look up to. As a French citizen and a Comtesse, she was relatively unmolested by the Germans when they invaded France and would not have appeared to have had a stong motive to do the things she did and risk her life and the lives of her children. Lindell's daughter actually became involved with a German officer. However, Lindell had been a Red Cross nurse in WWI, for which she was awarded the Croix de Guerre for her assistance to both French and German soldiers alike, and she was a compassionate and caring person.
In WWII, Lindell developed a stake in the salvation of British, American, Canadian and other Allied pilots, because she accidently saved the life of a single British pilot. He spread the word, and before she knew it, she was inundated with downed pilots seeking her assistance. She could not stand by and watch the Nazis shoot them in the street, in the churches, anywhere they found them. When she was captuered and imprisoned for assisting the enemy, her son stood in for her. Eventually, she was released and resumed her underground career. Her son and her daughter, her friends and a host of other partisans helped her form the "Marie" underground network which smuggled countless Allied airmen out of harm's way through the southern border of France. For her heroism, Lindell was awarded another 'Croix de Guerre' at the end of the war.
This is a fine video, well constructed, and a joy to watch. I think you'll watch it more than once.
Movie Review: A Hallmark Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
In the days of occupied France during World War II, an English born French woman finds herself in the position of helping downed flyers escape German occupied territory. This is the story of a stubborn, driven woman, the countess de Melville, Mary Lindell, as played by Judy Davis, and her part in the French Resistance. The movie captures well the flavor of occupied France, and moves between action there, and London, where the first man she helps escape back to freedom, played by Sam Neil, works to coordinate her efforts with British intelligence. Her son, who was present on the set when it was being filmed, and whose life is also featured in the film, said that Davis perfectly captured the character of his mother. This Hallmark production is all dialogue and interaction, a classic war film. It is a crown jewel in any video collection.
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