Queen & Country

QUEEN AND COUNTRY is the hilarious follow-up to John Boorman’s HOPE AND GLORY (1987 nominated for 5 Academy Awards), when 9-year-old Bill Rohan rejoices in the destruction of his school by an errant Luftwaffe bomb. QUEEN AND COUNTRY picks up the story nearly a decade later as Bill (Boorman’s alter-ego), played by a charming Callum Turner, begins basic training in the early 1950s, during the Korean War. Bill is joined by a trouble-making army mate, Percy (Caleb Landry Jones). They never get near Korea, but engage in a constant battle of wits with the Catch-22-worthy, Sgt. Major Bradley -- the brilliant David Thewlis. Richard E. Grant is their superior, the veddy, veddy, infinitely put-upon, aptly-named Major Cross. A superb ensemble cast limns a wonderfully funny and often moving depiction of a still-recovering postwar England.