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| Staring: David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe, Kim Cattrall, Carey Mulligan,
Julian Wadham Directed by: Brian
Kirk |
Original broadcast date: 2007
DVD release: 2008
Released by: Warner Home VideoDolby
Digital 2.0 stereo
Widescreen |
Brian Kirk’s My Boy Jack is a
television drama that tells the story of British writer Rudyard Kipling (David Haig) and
his family at the beginning of World War I. Kipling is an outspoken critic of the Germans
and their saber-rattling; he believes war is inevitable. For the preservation of the
British Empire, Kipling lectures that it is essential for every able-bodied British son to
sign up to fight for his King and country. Kipling’s son, Jack (Daniel Radcliffe),
wants to escape from under his father’s shadow and also leave the family home, which
he finds stifling, so he tries to enlist, much to his father’s delight.
Unfortunately, Jack suffers from extreme near-sightedness and is rejected for both the
navy and army. Using his influence, Kipling gets his son a commission with the Irish
Guards and Jack, despite his vision problems, excels in soldiering and becomes a fine
officer.
| Kipling bio By 1914, English writer and poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was at
the height of his popularity and reputation. Already the first British recipient of the
Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 and also the youngest recipient ever (still to this
day), Kipling was the foremost apologist for British Imperialism. He believed -- as
evidenced in his works -- that Britain’s colonies were not capable of surviving
without help from Britain and Europe, and his references to some of the natives of
Britain’s colonies were condescending at best.
Kipling was born in Bombay, India of British parents, his
father the principal and professor of architectural sculpture at Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy
School of Art and Industry. Kipling grew up in Bombay until six years of age when he was
shipped back to England (as was the practice with foreign-born British children) to be
educated at home. He returned to India at the age of 16, when it appeared that he lacked
the academic ability to get into Oxford University on a scholarship. He began to work as
an assistant editor of a small local paper in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was there that
he really began his prolific writing career and he remained in India for the next eight
years before returning to London. Kipling is most famous for his short stories in The
Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) as well as Kim
(1901), Just So Stories (1902), and Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906). His
most well-known poems are Mandalay (1890) and Gunga Din (1890).
To this day, the Scouting movement in America uses
characters from Kipling’s books. Adult helpers to wolf cubs (boys aged seven to ten)
adopt the names of characters in the two Jungle Book books and Kim, and the
wolf cubs pledge allegiance to Akela, the head of the pack.
...Mischa Hayek
mischah@hometheatersound.com |
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However, Kipling’s overt delight in seeing his son go
to war causes much dissention at home. Both his wife, Caroline (Kim Cattrall), and his
daughter, Elsie (Carey Mulligan), realize the eminent danger that Jack will be in. When
Jack goes missing just after his 18th birthday during the Battle of Loos, where the Allies
lost two men for every one German, both Kipling and his wife search to find answers about
their missing boy.
My Boy Jack was originally a poem by Rudyard Kipling
about his son who died in World War I. It was turned into a play in 1997 by actor David
Haig and then a TV drama in 2007 when Haig adapted the screenplay from his original play.
Under Brian Kirk’s direction, My Boy Jack does
a good job of capturing Kipling’s exuberant and adventuresome personality. Kipling
sees only possibilities and positive outcomes -- the result of achieving more success than
he ever dreamed. The formula of "hard work equals success" is so rooted in his
psyche that he only thinks of his son’s potential death as an unlikely outcome rather
than the sure thing it was for many young soldiers in WWI. It’s difficult to dislike
Kipling, even though one may be baffled why such a worldly, experienced man could so
easily put his son in obvious danger.
This DVD release of My Boy Jack contains the
following two bonus features: deleted scenes and an interview with actors Daniel Radcliffe
and Kim Cattrall and screenwriter-actor David Haig. This feature is approximately 24
minutes long and, unfortunately, is quite disappointing in that the interviewees retell
the story that one has just seen but without adding any new insight. It’s pretty much
a waste of time.
The image is slightly soft and the colors are muted.
It’s a made-for-TV movie and looks like that. I’d imagine that it might look
quite fine on a standard television, but on a modern flat-screen TV or through a
high-quality projector, it looks, at best, average.
The two-channel soundtrack shows good clarity for dialogue,
but it has little impact or weight. For example, gunshots sound stunted and exploding
bombs sound small; the music sounds just OK. Obviously, with just two channels supplying
the sound, there are no surround effects and nothing that envelopes the listener. Once
again, the made-for-TV production values are sufficient, but they certainly won’t
impress home-theater aficionados.
My Boy Jack is a competent drama that gives the
viewer the background to one of Kipling’s famous poems. But I suspect the major
drawing feature for many will be the chance to see Daniel Radcliffe (famous for his role
as the boy wizard in the Harry Potter film series) test his acting chops in a role
so unlike his previous work. Whatever your reason, My Boy Jack is worthwhile
viewing. |
