Culture Representation: Taking place in Massachusetts, the horror film “Return to Silent Hill” (based on the 2001 video game “Silent Hill 2”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Asians and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A man has constant hallucinatory delusions because he cannot accept that his girlfriend is dead, and he imagines returning to a place called Silent Hill, where they had their courtship, but Silent Hill is now a desolate location filled with monsters.
Culture Audience: “Return to Silent Holl” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Silent Hill” franchise and don’t mind if a horror movie is boring and has a flimsy plot.
Hannah Emily Anderson in “Return to Silent Hill” (Photo by Aleksandar Letic/Cineverse)
Repetitive and incoherent, the horror film “Return to Silent Hill” is yet another creatively bankrupt movie based on a video game. This turgid movie (about a grieving man in denial about the death of a loved one) has subpar visual effects and weak acting. And the ending is absolutely terrible.
Directed by Christophe Gans, “Return to Silent Hill” was co-written by Gans, William Josef Schneider and Sandra Vo-Anh. The movie is based on the video game “Silent Hill 2,” which was originally released in 2001 and had a remake in 2024. The “Silent Hill” video games, originally created by Team Silent at Konami Computer Entertainment, have also spawned other “Silent Hill” movies, all of them have been critically panned flops: 2006’s “Silent Hill” and 2012’s “Silent Hill: Revelations.”
“Return to Silent Hill” takes place in Massachusetts but was actually filmed in Germany and in the Serbian city of Belgrade. The movie begins by showing protagonist James Sunderland (played by Jeremy Irvine), who is a painter artist, driving on a road in his car during the day, when he swerves to avoid crashing into a very large truck. As his car skids on the road, it hits three suitcases that belong to heiress Mary Crane (played by Hannah Emily Anderson), who is waiting on the road for her bus ride. James and Mary are both in their 30s.
Clothes and other items spill out of the suitcases because of the impact of James’ car. James gets out of the car and makes an apology for the mess and helps Mary put the items back in the suitcases. Mary’s bus has arrived but can’t wait for her to finish getting her suitcases in order, so the bus leaves without her. James feels bad about this accident and offers to drive Mary where she needs to go.
Mary says she’s going to a town called Silent Hill, which is visible across a canyon near the road. Mary points out Silent Hill to James, as they start to have a mutual attraction during their conversation. Flashbacks later show that Mary told James that her widower father, who is now deceased, founded Silent Hill. The sunny sky suddenly turns dark and foreboding. Mary says it’s a “Silent Hill summer storm. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does …”
The movie then abruptly shows an image of Mary’s dead body sinking in outdoor water. The scene of James and Mary meeting is one of several flashback scenes in “Return to Silent Hill.” The movie is nothing but a repeat loop of one of these scenarios: (1) James having flashback memories of his time with Mary before she died; (2) James imagining that he’s experiencing terror in Silent Hill, where he goes to look for Mary in his delusional thinking that she’s still alive; and (3) James waking up from his hallucinations and having someone—such as his therapist, whose name is listed in the end credits only as M (played by Nicola Alexis)—telling him to stop imagining things and to face reality.
James goes back to look for Mary in Silent Hill because he found a letter from her saying, “Come back to our place. I need you. Mary.” Silent Hill is not the idyllic and charming town that existed during the courtship of James and Mary. Silent Town now resembles a foggy and desolate war zone. James is told that Silent Hill experienced a devastating fire, which is why the town is nearly abandoned.
When James is in this unpleasant version of Silent Hill, various chase scenes and horror scenarios occur with monsters such as a hulking brute named Pyramid Head (played Robert Strange) and a contortionist femme fatale named Spider Lady (played by Giula Pelagati), whose names describe what these creatures look like. A few dirty and disheveled humans are also lurking around, including a man named Eddie (played by Pearse Egan), whom Jeremy finds in an abandoned jail cell. The movie’s gore and kill scenes are bloody but not excessive.
James and Eddie find a girl named Laura (played by Evie Jayne Templeton), who’s about 11 or 12 years old, is found hiding in the jail cell. Laura is later revealed to be connected in some way to Mary. Pyramid Head then appears and attacks James. And then, James is shown chasing Laura through a maze in a scene that’s an inferior imitation of the maze chase scene in 1980’s “The Shining.” These chase scenes often abruptly end with James waking up to “reality” and not wanting to stay in reality. And so, he goes back into being delusional again.
During all of these idiotic shenanigans, James interacts with women who look like Mary, but who are wearing wigs and different makeup. (Mary has long red hair.) James is too dimwitted to notice that these women’s faces and bodies are the same as Mary’s, until one of them has to point out the resemblance to him. Anderson has the roles of all of these Mary look-alikes, such as a Goth woman named Angela with jet-black hair, an outspoken woman named Maria with a blonde bob hairstyle, and a character called Moth Mary, who looks exactly what her name is.
This sloppily made and lazy movie does nothing to turn the video game and into an enjoyable cinematic experience. All of the characters have empty personalities. Many of the visual effects in “Return to Silent Hill” look tacky and very fake. Although the movie’s main monsters are played by real people and aren’t computer-generated imagery, they have the visual impact of walking through a haunted house attraction at an amusement park: They might get a few jump scares, but those scares are very fleeting.
The cast members’ performances aren’t very impressive, although Anderson makes a good effort in her portrayals of various characters. Irvine gives a performance that’s like watching someone sleepwalking. And it’s not just because James spends most of the movie in a hallucinatory state of mind. Irvine says James’ dialogue as if he knows he’s in a terrible movie and doesn’t want to be there. Irvine is British in real life and sometimes struggles to maintain his American accent in the movie.
Even though James doesn’t talk about how Mary died, there’s also no suspense about how she died because it’s shown in the first 15 minutes of the movie. Mary and James were an unmarried couple who broke up before she died. Flashback scenes show why the relationship between James and Mary ended. Mary’s death occurred an untold number of months before the events of “Return to Silent Hill” take place. It’s a slight departure from the “Silent 2” video game, which has James as a grieving widower.
“Return to Silent Hill” is worse than a video game. At least with a video game, a viewer can be interactive and have some control over how the story plays out. With a dreadfully dull and nonsensical junkpile movie like “Return to Silent Hill,” viewers who want to experience everything until the very end have no choice but to watch a pile-on of horror nonsense that isn’t scary but is definitely silly.
Cineverse released “Return to Silent Hill” on January 23, 2026.
Culture Representation: Taking place in northeastern Italy, the action film “Turbulence” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: An affluent married couple experience terror when they are trapped on a hot air balloon with a woman who wants to get revenge on the husband.
Culture Audience: “Turbulence” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching stupid and unrealistic action movies.
Kelsey Grammer in “Turbulence” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)
The aptly titled, awful action flick “Turbulence” is a rough watch. Even by low-budget schlock standards, Turbulence looks too fake in this poorly made, terribly acted story about a married couple experiencing terror on a hot air balloon. “Turbulence” has such unrealistic physics for this hot air balloon ride from hell, the movie should be classified as a science fiction film.
Directed by in Claudio Fäh and written by Andy Mayson (who is one of the movie’s producers), “Turbulence” takes place in northeastern Italy but was actually filmed in Zurich, Switzerland. The movie has a very small number of people in its cast but a large number of cringeworthy scenes. Parts of the movie that should be suspenseful are instead laughable because of all the ridiculousness on display.
“Turbulence” begins by showing the CEO of a company called Krieger signing off on several employee layoffs for the company. The CEO is an American named Zach (played by Jeremy Irvine), who is in his 30s, and it’s revealed later in the movie that he inherited the company from his father. The movie never states what type of industry Krieger is in, but it’s a very wealthy company.
The next scene shows Krieger having a company party in a conference room. Zach is one of the people in attendance. Suddenly, a man in his late 60s named Jens Fischer (played by Peter Gantzler) bursts into the room. Jens is one of the people who was laid off, and he’s very angry about it.
Jens pulls out a gun and confronts Zach by pointing a gun at Zach and shouting that he gave his life for the company. Zach begs Jens not to shoot him. Zach explains that he and his wife have been trying to have a child, but she recently had a miscarriage. Jens pulls the trigger, but he doesn’t shoot Zach. Jens shoots and kills himself, resulting in Zach being splattered with Jens’ blood.
After this shocking incident, Zach calls his wife Emmy (played by Hera Hilmar), who is at their home in Los Angeles. The first indication that “Turbulence” is horribly written is that Zach doesn’t tell Emmy what happened with a laid-off employee commiting suicide in front of Zach. Instead, Zach acts like nothing is wrong and tells Emmy that he can’t wait to see her. Emmy will be arriving in Italy to meet up with Zach for their postponed honeymoon.
On the night of this suicide, before Emmy arrives in Italy, Zach goes to a hotel bar, where he meets a flirtatious stranger named Julia (played by Olga Kurylenko), who makes a scene at the bar. Julia had asked the bartender (played by Alessandro De Cominato) for an olive, but the bartender told her that in order to get an olive from the bar, she had to order a drink first. Julia refused and started arguing with the bartender.
In order to stop the argument, Zach (who was sitting nearby) offered to buy Julia a drink. Julia and Zach begin chatting. He tells her that he’s waiting for his wife Emmy to eventually arrive in Italy for their delayed honeymoon. Julia seems curious to know more about the spouses’ relationship, but Zach doesn’t reveal any of the marital problems that he and Emmy have been having recently.
Instead, Zach tells Julia that he’s happily married, as a way to tell Julia that he thinks she’s trying to seduce him. Julia laughs in response and says, “Don’t be so presumptuous.” Zach also mentions that he and Emmy are going to spend a few days in the Dolemites, where they plan to take a hot air balloon ride.
The next day, Zach gets text messages from Julia, who demands €500,000 to buy her silence about what they did the night before. Zach thinks it’s a joke at first, but she persists. Zach texts her back to say that they didn’t do anything wrong. Zach’s last text to Julia says, “My lawyers are used to dealing with trash like you.”
That same day, Emmy arrives in Italy. And that’s when Zach tells her about the suicide. Zach doesn’t tell her about Julia. But in a tacky movie like “Turbulence,” Julia is not going to go away quietly.
Emmy is feeling down because of the miscarriage. Zach tries to comfort her by saying to Emmy: “You’ve got to stop feeling guilty. Take as much time as you need.” Emmy thinks they should go ahead with their scheduled hot air balloon trip through the Dolemites mountain range.
Their hot air balloon guide is an American named Harry (played by Kelsey Grammer), who tells Emmy and Zach that he’s originally from Chicago. Harry mentions that in addition to owning a hot air balloon business, he works part-time as a clown. Harry says he’s a “qualified clown” from “my days in the circus when I was a kid.” Harry being in this horrible movie is another reason why he’s a “qualified clown.”
Harry says a few other people signed up for this trip, but they haven’t shown up. Just as Harry, Emmy and Zach are about to leave in the balloon, someone else who signed up for the trip shows up: Julia, who says she’s sorry for being late.
Zach pretends that he’s never seen Julia before. But not long after the balloon takes off, things get uncomfortable and then downright nasty, as Julia confronts Zach and accuses him of having a sexual one-night-stand with her. Zach vehemently denies the accusation.
The rest of “Turbulence” turns into a moronic “Fatal Attraction”-type soap opera in the air, but not with a “Fatal Attraction” ending. Julia has a knife, and there are physical fights on the hot air balloon. But the idiocy of Zach and Emmy knows no bounds.
For example, at one point Julia gets knocked unconscious, but none of the people on board the hot air balloon thinks about taking her knife. And when she regain consciousness, you know exactly what she’s going to do. All of the fights on the balloon look incredibly phony because of the atrocious acting and unconvincing visual effects.
Another example of a foolish decision is when the hot air balloon becomes uncontrollable and goes way off course. Emmy decides they should lighten the weight of the balloon, so she throws overboard the backpacks that she and Zach brought with them—the same backpacks that have all their food and water. She could’ve kept the food and water and thrown out everything else that was dead weight.
Meanwhile, the balloon gets damaged and has its fuel fire extinguished multiple times, but the laws of physics don’t exist in the movie. The “Turbulence” filmmakers must think that people who are most likely to watch this film don’t know basic science. “Turbulence” doesn’t have much to offer except to show how not to make a movie that takes place mostly in a hot air balloon. Some of the outdoor scenery looks lovely, but that’s about the only thing that this movie gets right.
Irvine’s acting is wooden for most of this ludicrous flick. Kurylenko is too hammy, while Hilmar has a sleepwalking tone to her acting until the part of the film where Emmy suddenly becomes an expert in hot ballooning. Grammer isn’t in the movie long enough to make any impression except that he clearly did this junkpile movie for a quick salary.
“Turbulence” has a “plot twist” that isn’t as clever that the filmmakers think it is. In fact, it’s probably the most obvious conclusion, considering all the clues that were shown along the way. “Turbulence” might have been an enjoyable watch if there had been some level of campiness to the movie’s tone. But it’s a bad movie that takes itself too seriously, which is often the worst type of bad movie.
Lionsgate released “Turbulence” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on December 12, 2025.
Culture Representation: Taking place from the 1910s to 1950s, primarily in England, the dramatic film “Benediction” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with one African person) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: During World War I, British soldier Siegfried Sassoon becomes an anti-war objector and a poet, and for years he hides his homosexuality, including by getting married to a woman.
Culture Audience: “Benediction” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in true stories of British gay men in the 20th century.
Kate Phillips and Jack Lowden in “Benediction” (Photo by Laurence Cendrowicz/Roadside Attractions)
Well-acted but slightly long-winded, the British drama “Benediction” is a compelling biopic that shows how poet Siegfried Sassoon was not only bold and outspoken about his anti-war views, but he was also insecure and secretive about his homosexuality. The movie gives emotionally complex depictions of how fame cannot shield LGBTQ people from the bigotry that pressures LGBTQ people to sometimes lead double lives. “Benediction” is a 20th century period drama, but many of the movie’s issues about homophobia can still apply to many people today. Written and directed by Terence Davies, “Benediction” had its world premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.
In real life, Siegfried Sassoon had turmoil not just about his sexuality but also about his religious faith and coming from a broken home. Born in Matfield, England, in 1886, Siegfried died in Heytsebury, England, at age 80 in 1967, just one week before he would have turned 81. His father Alfred was Jewish, and his mother Theresa was Catholic. Alfred was disowned from his family for marrying a non-Jewish woman.
When Siegfried was 4 years old, his parents separated. Siegfried (who was the middle of three sons) and his older brother Michael and younger brother Hamo were then raised by their mother, while their father would see them for visits. And then, Alfred died of tuberculosis in 1895, when Siegfried was 7 or 8 years old. Years later, tuberculosis would nearly kill the man who was considered to be the greatest love of Siegfried’s life.
“Benediction” would have benefited from some exploration of Siegfried’s childhood and family background, which undoubtedly shaped the person he became. It would certainly explain why Siegfried wasn’t afraid to go against society’s expectations as a military man who became an outspoken objector against war and against the British government. Siegfried lived during a time in the United Kingdom when it was very taboo for people to be in mixed-religion marriages and for married people to separate. Being treated like an “outsider” simply because of his parents’ marital situation no doubt affected Siegfried in ways that carried into his adulthood.
Instead of giving this backstory, “Benediction” shows Siegfried in two different phases of his life: when Siegfried was his 30s and 40s (played by Jack Lowden) and when Siegfried was in his 70s (played by Peter Capaldi), with the younger phase of Sisgfried’s life getting most of the screen time. This uneven timeline doesn’t ruin “Benediction,” but it does make it more obvious to viewers how the movie under-uses the talent of Capaldi.
“Benediction” opens in London in 1914. Siegfried and his younger brother Hamo (played by Thom Ashley) are visiting a tailor shop together. In 1914, Siegfried was an aspiring poet and a British Army soldier who would later become a second lieutenant and a decorated war hero for saving soldiers’ lives during combat. When Hamo goes off to serve in the British Army during World War I, Siegfried expresses regret at not saying goodbye to his brother. Hamo was tragically killed in the line of duty during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.
By 1917, Siegfried became disillusioned about World War I and war in general. The movie shows him writing letters of protest to the United Kingdom government. A scene in “Benediction” shows him reading one of the letters, which says in part: “I believe that war upon which I entered in defense and liberation has now become a war of aggression and conquest.”
As an example of Siegfried’s willingness to sacrifice his military career for his anti-war beliefs, he meets with an openly gay journalist/mentor named Robbie Ross (played by Simon Russell Beale), who comes from an influential political family, to find out what punishment Siegfried will be getting from the British government. In this meeting, Siegfried is fully expecting to hear that the British military is going to court martial Siegfried because of Siegfried’s public criticism of the British government’s stance on World War I. But to Siegfried’s dismay, Robbie tells Siegfried that Robbie enlisted the help of Edward Marsh, the principal private secretary of then-U.K. minister of munitions Winston Churchill, to get Siegfried honorably discharged from the military for medical reasons.
“You robbed me of my dignity!” Siegfried angrily says to Robbie about not getting court martialed. Robbie says, “Don’t be angry with me, Siegfried. My intentions were honorable.” Despite this argument, Robbie (who is 18 years older than Siegfried) and Siegfried remain friends. Robbie became a trusted advisor in Siegfried’s personal and professional lives. “Benediction” briefly mentions later in the movie that Robbie was also known for his close relationship with gay poet/writer Oscar Wilde, whom Robbie remained loyal to during Wilde’s imprisonment for being gay.
At the time, homosexuality was banned in the British military, and homosexuality was considered a psychiatric disorder. “Benediction” makes it look like although Siegfried might have been suspected of being gay in the military, he was punished more for speaking out against the British government. His military discharge included being sent to a psychiatric hospital for having “psychiatric problems.”
In a dramatic show of his disgust with the British military, Siegfried throws away his military card. At the hospital, he has therapy sessions with a sympathetic psychiatrist named Dr. Rivers (played by Ben Daniels), who says things to Siegfried such as: “It’s not about what I want. It’s about what you think you need.” It’s not said out loud, but it’s implied that Dr. Rivers is a closeted gay man too.
Over time, Siegfried begins to trust Dr. Rivers because he and the doctor are kindred spirits who both have a lot of mistrust of the British government. Siegfried witnesses some disturbing things in the hospital, such as a man screaming out on agony during a meltdown, but Dr. Rivers is able to calm Siegfried’s fears. During his stay in the psychiatric hospital, Siegfried befriends a fellow patient named Wilfred Owen (played by Matthew Tennyson), who is the editor of a poetry newsletter called The Hydra.
Siegfried and Wilfred become great admirers of each other’s poetry. Siegfried is particularly impressed with Wilfred’s poem “Disabled.” It looks like Siegfried and Wilfred are headed toward a romance. But that possibility is interrupted when a chief medical officer (played by Julian Sands) has an angry reaction to seeing Siegfried and Wilfred doing a tango dance together. What happens to Wilfred is shown in the movie.
“Benediction” spends a lot of time depicting the ups and downs of Siegfried’s love life. People closest to Siegfried knew he was gay, but he was still “in the closet” about his true sexuality to most people. “Benediction” implies that Siegfried probably would’ve been more open about his sexuality if there weren’t severe punishments for being gay in the United Kingdom at the time.
Despite hiding his sexual identity from many people, Siegfried had an active social life. The movie shows Siegfried, Robbie and their mutual friend Dorothy Brett (played by Georgina Rylance) being invited to a party by Lady Edith Oliver (played by Olivia Darnley), one of the high-society people who became acquainted with Siegfried because of his poetry. It’s at this party that Siegfried meets celebrated actor/composer Ivor Novello (played by Jeremy Irvine), who is an openly gay playboy.
Siegfried falls for Ivor’s charms but quickly finds out that he’s one of many of Ivor’s lovers who get tossed aside and picked up again, according to Ivor’s whims. In fact, when Ivor and Siegfried hook up for the first time, Ivor’s actor boyfriend Glen Byam Shaw (played by Tom Blyth) walks in on them. Ivor cruelly tells Glen to leave the house keys as a way to break up with Glen in that moment
“Benediction” portrays Siegfried’s on-again/off-again relationship with Ivor as not so much of a romance but more like an addiction that Siegfried finds hard to quit. Ivor is up front with his lovers in telling them that he doesn’t believe in monogamy. And this is how Ivor describes his views about love: “The main drawback about love is that it descends all too quickly into possessiveness. It really is a bore.”
Ivor doesn’t like Siegfried’s friend/mentor Robbie. Siegfried’s mother Theresa (played by Geraldine James) doesn’t like Ivor. Theresa has this to say about Ivor: “He’s amusing but unpleasant.” Is it any wonder that Siegfried’s relationship with Ivor is doomed to fail?
In a scene that looks fabricated for a movie, Ivor’s ex-lover Glen happens to see Siegfried and Ivor break up at a restaurant. It should not come as a big surprise that after seeing this breakup, Glen immediately wants to get close to Siegfried. Glen offers to drive Siegfried to Kent so that Siegfried can visit his grandmother. During this trip, the two men get to know each other better in more ways than one. However, Glen eventually decides he’s going to marry an actress.
“Benediction” portrays aristocrat Stephen Tennant (played by Calam Lynch) as the biggest love of Siegfried’s life. However, Stephen and Siegfried’s love affair is plagued by mutual jealousy. Even when Ivor was no longer dating Siegfried, Ivor seems to still have some kind of hold over Siegfried. And it bothers Stephen immensely. Siegfried also gets jealous of the attention that Stephen gets from other men. This love affair also ends in heartbreak.
In his 40s, Siegfried strikes up a close friendship with a lively and outgoing socialite named Hester Gatty (played by Kate Phillips), despite Hester being 20 years younger than he is. Hester knows that Siegfried is gay. Siegfried also confides in Hester about problems in his love life.
And eventually, Hester proposes marriage to Siegfried, knowing that she will be his “beard,” to cover up the fact that he is gay. Siegfried and Hester get married in 1933, mainly because they want to start a family together. Their son (and only child) George was born in 1936.
Where does the story of older Siegfried fit into the movie? It’s told in the context of an emotionally unsettled Siegfried fighting depression and looking back on his life while deciding that he’s going to convert to Catholicism. Siegfried’s adult son George (played by Richard Goulding) is very skeptical about Siegfried being committed and sincere about being a Catholic. It leads to some father/son conflicts that aren’t very interesting, mainly because viewers never get to see what kind of father Siegfried was to George for most of George’s life.
As for older Hester (played by Gemma Jones), living in a fake marriage has taken a toll on her. The young Hester was hopefully optimistic that being married to her gay best friend would have a happy ending. The older Hester is somewhat bitter because she sees the reality that although she is happy with being a mother, she and Siegfried deprived themselves of living authentically and possibly being in a true romance with someone else. Hester also knows that this arranged marriage benefited Siegfried more than it benefited her.
However, that doesn’t mean Siegfried feels any more satisfied than Hester in how this marriage turned out to be a stagnant relationship. Siegfried and Hester just barely tolerate each other but feel obligated to stay together to keep up appearances during a time when divorce was still a big stigma for many people. Siegfried wanting to convert to Catholicism is an obvious indication that he doesn’t consider divorce to be an option for this unhappy marriage.
There’s not a bad performance in “Benediction,” with Lowden being an obvious standout for his portrayal of the complicated and somewhat unpredictable Siegfried. Irvine also gives a memorable supporting performance as heartbreaker Ivor, who seems to have love/hate relationships with most people in his life. Jones and Capaldi also give admirable and nuanced performances as the older Siegfried and older Hester in the limited screen time that they have.
In a movie about a famous poet, the writing should also be commendable. “Benediction” has snippets of Siegfried’s poetry, of course, but the movie delivers a lot of above-average and snappy dialogue from Davies’ original screenplay. In a scene where Siegfried finds out that Ivor is dating actor Bobby Andrews (played by Harry Lawtey) at the same time that Ivor has been dating Siegfried, Bobby quips: “If you want fidelity, Siegfried, buy a pet.” (In real life, this actor spelled his name as Bobbie Andrews.) Later, when Glen tells Siegfried that he’s marrying a woman, Glen cynically says: “Purity is like virginity. As soon as you touch it, it becomes corrupt.”
“Benediction” unquestionably has high-quality filmmaking, when it comes to the movie’s acting, production design and costume design. However, “Benediction” doesn’t quite have what it takes to win major awards for any aspects of its filmmaking. The biggest issue is that parts of the film tend to lumber and could have used better editing.
There’s also the problem of introducing Siegfried at a later stage of his life and yet not giving that period of his life enough screen time. The movie leaves out huge parts of Siegfried’s life after he married Hester. These omissions just bring up many questions that “Benediction” never answers.
“Benediction” also doesn’t adequately explain what motivated Siegfried to convert to Catholicism at this stage in his life. There are hints that he was ashamed of his sexuality and wanted to atone for it in a religion that condemns homosexuality, but that interior reasoning is never fully explored in the movie. And for a very manipulative reason (which won’t be revealed in this review), “Benediction” fabricates a story arc near the end of the film about Siegfried becoming a widower. In real life, Hester Sassoon died in 1973—six years after Siegfried’s death.
Viewers might also question if “Benediction” glosses over or ignores a lot of the abusive homophobia that Siegfried might have experienced in his personal life. Except for being put in a psychiatric institution (where “Benediction” shows he was treated pretty well and was lucky enough to have an understanding doctor), Siegfried was never imprisoned, tortured, bullied or fired for his sexuality, if you believe everything in this movie. It might be a testament to Siegfried having certain privileges (fame and high-society friends) that lesser-known and less-privileged gay men didn’t have as protection against homophobic cruelties.
Despite these narrative flaws, “Benediction” is worth seeing for a fascinating portrait of a highly talented artist, what he went through in leading a double life, and the price he and his loved ones had to pay as a result. Viewers who are inclined to think arthouse British period dramas can be too stuffy probably won’t like “Benediction” too much. But for people who enjoy or who are open to this type of entertainment, then “Benediction” is a biopic that will satisfy those cinematic tastes.
Roadside Attractions released “Benediction” in select U.S. cinemas on June 3, 2022. The movie was released in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2022, and in Australia in 2021.
Culture Representation: Set in the United States and Vietnam, the male-centric military drama “The Last Full Measure” centers on predominantly white (and a few African American) characters who are connected in some way to the U.S. Air Force.
Culture Clash: The conflicting agendas of politicians, military officials and war veterans are depicted in the process of deciding if a deceased military man will get the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Culture Audience: “The Last Full Measure” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in movies about military veterans and the Vietnam War.
Jeremy Irvine in “The Last Full Measure” (Photo by Wasan Puengprasert)
The military/political drama “The Last Full Measure” gets its title from the phrase used to describe the ultimate sacrifice that a military person can give in service. Inspired by a true story, this appropriately solemn movie chronicles the journey of Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman (a fictional chracter played by Sebastian Stan), who investigates a decades-long request for the Congressional Medal of Honor to be given to Vietnam War hero William Pitsenbarger, a U.S. Air Force Pararescue medic who died in combat in 1966, at the age of 21.
Pitsenbarger (nicknamed Pits) lost his life during a battle at Xa Cam My that was part of a secretive mission called Operation Abilene. He was a para jumper (or PJ), who saved approximately 60 men in the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division during his military service in the Vietnam War. The movie’s story unfolds in a way that is similar to a mystery, since Scott uncovers secrets that certain people in the government do not want to be revealed. According to “The Last Full Measure” writer/director Todd Robinson (who tried to get this movie made for 20 years), the fictional Scott Huffman character is a composite of himself, historian Parker Hayes and unnamed Pentagon staffers who fought for Pitsenbarger to get the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The beginning of the movie takes place in Washington, D.C., in 1999, when F. Whitten Peters (played by Linus Roache) abruptly retired from his position as U.S. Secretary of the Air Force. Knowing that he’ll soon be out of a job because he worked on Peters’ staff, Scott reluctantly takes an assignment from the smirky and arrogant Carlton Stanton (played by Bradley Whitford), a Pentagon public-relations employee who delights in giving to Scott what they both perceive as a trivial and distracting task—looking into a Congressional Medal of Honor request that has been rejected for decades. (Viewers can see from the get-go that Carlton will be the movie’s power-hungry villain who will do whatever it takes to climb the government ladder.)
At the time he is given the assignment, Scott is more concerned about where he’s going to find his next job. He’s the father of a kindergarten-age son, and he’s expecting his second child with his pregnant wife Tara (played by Alison Sudol), who encourages him to approach the investigation with compassion and an open mind. The three people who are the biggest advocates for Pits to get his posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor are retired Air Force Sgt. Tom Tulley (William Hurt), who was Pits’ best friend and mission partner, and Pits’ parents Frank and Alice (played by Christopher Plummer and Diane Ladd), who have never fully recovered from the untimely loss of their son.
Scott interviews them, as well as several U.S. military veterans who were eyewitnesses to Pits’ bravery, including Billy Takoda (played by Samuel L. Jackson), Ray Mott (played by Ed Harris), Jimmy Burr (played Peter Fonda, in his last movie role, which is essentially a camero) and Kepper (John Savage), who still lives in Vietnam. Scott travels all the way to Vietnam to interview Kepper, and during his conversation with Kepper, Scott has a powerful awakening. Through the interviews, Scott pieces together the puzzle of the ill-fated Operation Abilene that led the U.S. soldiers into a Viet Cong ambush. Showing uncommon bravery, Pitsenbarger refused a chance to escape and instead stayed on the battleground to help save lives and attend to the wounded, while also taking up arms to defend his comrades. The battle scenes are shown in flashbacks, with Jeremy Irvine portraying Pits.
But what really caused that deadly ambush at Xa Cam My? And how much did the U.S. government know but chose to hide from the public? As Scott gets closer to the truth, he knows that revealing the truth could destroy his career and possibly put his life in danger. It could also kill the chances of Pits getting a Congressional Medal of Honor if the full story comes out about Operation Abilene. It’s a tricky dilemma, because some of the same government people whose votes are needed to approve the Congressional Medal of Honor going to Pits are also the same people who could squash that request if Scott goes public with the full story.
During the course of the movie, viewers see Scott’s transformation as a somewhat rigid character who tends to see issues in black and white to someone who begins to understand that issues come in many shades of grey. For example, in one scene in the movie, Scott is assembling a crib and he refuses to look at the instructions, because “that would be cheating,” he says—an indication of not only his hardline approach on how to solve problems but also an assertion of how he perceives his strong masuculinity. But as the stories about Operation Abilene unfold, Scott begins to question his views on ethics in the context of war. He must also confront issues of patriotism and personal sacrifice—issues that can sometimes be at odds with each other and can be tested if it involves reporting government corruption.
Fortunately, Stan does an admirable job of portraying this metamorphosis in a realistic way. He and co-star Hurt have a few emotional scenes in the movie, which doesn’t veer too much into melodrama for the characters. In addition, “The Last Full Measure” respectfully handles the issues of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and how it not only affects war veterans but also their loved ones. The movie responsibly shows how people can react to PTSD in different ways and how military machismo sometimes hinders people from dealing with these issues in a beneficial and healing way.
Because “The Last Full Measure” is a male-oriented film and the military is a male-dominated field, the female characters don’t have much to do except play “the supportive wife” or “the supportive administration employee.” However, that doesn’t mean the women in this movie are doormats. In particular, Ladd’s Alice Pitsenbarger character shows inspiring determination to keep pushing for the family’s cause when her ailing husband’s health issues indicate that he won’t be around much longer.
“The Last Full Measure” is an engrossing and heartfelt story that might seem like a paint-by-numbers military movie because the ending is very easy to predict, but it stands out for its top-notch cast of stars (who all deliver convincing performances) and the fact that Vietnam War stories about the U.S. Air Force are rarely told in movies. At the end of the film, “The Last Full Measure” points out the extremely low percentage of Air Force people and even lower percentage of enlisted airpeople who have received the Congressional Medal of Honor. The movie is ultimately a tribute to U.S. military people, especially those who made personal sacrifices during wars, whether or not they made it out alive.
Roadside Attractions will release “The Last Full Measure” in U.S. cinemas on January 24, 2020.
