Wondrous Oblivion DVD

Date: 26 / Mar / 2012

Pedro

Really, it's not about cricket

New home, new town, and the removal van reveals your life to a hundred watching eyes. A pivotal moment. Your new neighbours are as anxious as you are. If you’re black Jamaicans and moving into an all-white area, expect a few difficulties. That sounds a bit thin as a central theme, but there are two intriguing complications. The first is that the Jamaicans’ next-door neighbours are themselves immigrants, a Jewish family who originally fled to the UK to escape the Nazis. The other is that the young son of this family, David, is mad on cricket but distressingly useless at playing it. And here’s the key to the plot: cricket is big in Jamaica. Dad of the Jamaican newcomers is as keen on cricket as David, and what’s more, he knows how to hit the ball. Friendship blossoms, and David even gets on well with the Jamaicans’ daughter, who is about the same age. For him this is all truly wonderful, but for his family and the neighbours around it’s more than a little disconcerting. And David soon realises his schoolmates don’t see things quite as he does, either. Even worse, David’s Mum... ah, but I’ll stop there, best to watch the film and see how it all develops. It’s sensitively done, often funny, often touching, sometimes infuriating in its realistic portrayal of the closet xenophobia all around us. It’s not about cricket, it’s about our inbuilt prejudices, distrust of the outsider, scorn for those outside our group. It has a dramatic (if slightly predictable) climax and a satisfying ending that leaves you feeling good rather than depressed. Don’t expect a cinematic masterpiece, it doesn’t set out to be that, and there are some not entirely convincing plot twists, but overall it’s a good film with excellent acting, a people story well told. Oh, and the animated cigarette cards are fun.

Age: Over 55

Gender: Male

Date: 06 / Jun / 2011

Saraleh

Wondrous Oblivion

This is a really thought provoking film set in the resentful of 'West Indian's England of the 60's. It centres around Samuel a young boy whose aspiration is to play cricket in his (private) school team or even higher but who cannot even make it to the bottom team. His family happen to be immigrant Jews from Germany who rent a house in London. Things start happening when a Jamaican family move in next door - and this is when the fun starts. The local bigoted neighbours are more against the arrival of 'Blackies' into their midst than they are of this Jewish family. Here we see true British bigotry at its worst. Added to this Victor the father doesn't want his family to have anything to do with these new neighbours. Unfortunately for him the Jamaican father is cricket mad, and constructs in the previously very suburban rose laden garden, a pitch for playing garden cricket. He encourages the boy to come and play - and teaches him to play excellently. But really the film is about cultural differences and how people are affected by them and is very entertaining in this aspect. I won't spoil it by revealing the plot but it is very entertaining and as I said, very thought provoking. I would recommend it as both light entertainment or as a subject of group debate.

Gender: Female