Sunday 12 November 2023

The Great Escaper (Oliver Parker, 2023)


In 2014, the 89-year-old war veteran Bernard Jordan absconded from his care home to cross the Channel to see the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings. This made national and international headlines.
It's fitting that this is the final film for Michael Caine, who then announced his retirement, as Jordan, and Glenda Jackson, who died shortly after completing filming, as his wife. They are excellent in the roles, with a movingly deep on-screen relationship. Given the subject, it could also easily have strayed into little England flag-waving in Jordan's flashbacks to the events being commemorated, or outright sentimentality, but both are deftly avoided. The flashes of humour don't jar with the serious elements either. It's a worthy swansong for both actors.

8/10

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