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| | starring = ] | | starring = ] | ||
| | distributor = ] | | distributor = ] | ||
| | country = |
| country = United Kingdom | ||
| | runtime = 123 min. | | runtime = 123 min. | ||
| | language = ],<br />English,<br />German <ref name="MEW 1">{{cite web|title= Media Education Wales: Hedd Wyn (English)|url=http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Heddwyne.html |accessdate=14 July 2010 |publisher=]|year=2001|work=Media Ed website}}</ref> | | language = ],<br />English,<br />German <ref name="MEW 1">{{cite web|title= Media Education Wales: Hedd Wyn (English)|url=http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/Heddwyne.html |accessdate=14 July 2010 |publisher=]|year=2001|work=Media Ed website}}</ref> | ||
| }} | }} | ||
| '''''Hedd Wyn''''' is a ] ] ] written by ] and directed by ]. | '''''Hedd Wyn''''' is a ] ] British ] written by ] and directed by ]. | ||
| ''Hedd Wyn'' is a ] based on the life of Welsh poet ] (]), who was killed in the ] and posthumously awarded the Chair at the ]. The ] starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native ] with the bombed-out horrors of ]. | ''Hedd Wyn'' is a ] based on the life of Welsh poet ] (]), who was killed in the ] and posthumously awarded the Chair at the ]. The ] starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native ] with the bombed-out horrors of ]. | ||
Revision as of 08:12, 11 December 2010
British film| Hedd Wyn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Paul Turner |
| Written by | Alan Llwyd |
| Starring | Huw Garmon |
| Distributed by | S4C |
| Running time | 123 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Languages | Welsh, English, German |
Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh-language British biopic written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.
Hedd Wyn is a anti-war film based on the life of Welsh poet Ellis Humphrey Evans (Huw Garmon), who was killed in the First World War and posthumously awarded the Chair at the National Eisteddfod of Wales. The cinematography starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native Meirionnydd with the bombed-out horrors of Passchendaele.
Plot
As the camera pans over the intricate carving on the infamous, "Black Chair," the voice of the Archdruid Dyfed is heard vainly summoning the poet, "Fleur-de-lis," to stand and be Chaired. The film then flashes back to 1913.
As a farmer's son in the village of Trawsfynydd, Ellis Humphrey Evans composes poetry for local eisteddfodau under the bardic name Hedd Wyn ("Blessed Peace"). The village minister, Reverend J.D. Richards (Derec Brown), advises Ellis that his verse possesses a passion which better educated poets lack. Therefore, with more work and less womanizing, Ellis could win the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Ellis smiles and quips, "Where do you think all that passion comes from?"
Meanwhile, international tensions rise and the British Army installs an artillery range on a local hillside, much to Ellis' disgust. Ultimately, World War I breaks out in August 1914.
Despite massive social pressure, Ellis refuses to enlist and states that he doesn't think he can kill anyone. As a result, Ellis' fiancée, Lizzie Roberts (Sue Roberick), accuses him of being, "afraid of becoming a man." At a fair, Ellis attempts to mend his relationship with Lizzie, only to find that she has taken up with an English soldier. "It is nothing personal," she says coldly, "I just don't like your clothes."
Later, in the village pub, Ellis seethes as his fellow villagers sing the recruiting song, Your King and Country Want You. When Lizzie arrives to speak with him, Ellis loudly sings Myfanwy, a song with implications of female betrayal. Sensing Lizzie's distress, her new beau punches Ellis in the face, screaming, "You're upseting the lady! Welsh bastard!"
While riding a train, Ellis encounters Jinni Owens (Judith Humphreys), a young woman who admires his poetry. Noticing her interest in him, Ellis asks for Jinni's address and sends her a letter. Soon the two are deeply in love.
Simultaneously, Ellis develops a close friendship with Gwen Williams (Sian Summers), the young woman who is tutoring his sisters. He explains to Gwen that, whenever a poem is lacking, he will cast it into the river, and that it will always return to him stronger.
On a railway journey with Jinnie, Ellis encounters two hideously disfigured war veterans. Despite his sympathy for their plight, the soldiers accuse Ellis of cowardice for remaining a civilian. As he and Jinnie depart, they threaten to mail him a white feather. Ellis quips, "You don't have any wings, let along feathers."
Ultimately, Lizzie returns to the village with tuberculosis. After a church service, she informs Ellis that he was right about the war, which is a curse. Later, as Lizzie lays dying, Ellis visits her sickbed and promises to bring her to the National Eisteddfodd.
Soon after, an official of the draft board arrives at the family farm and takes down the names of Ellis and his brother Bob, despite the resistance of Ellis' mother (Catrin Fychan). As a result, the Crown informs the Evans family that one of their sons must join the British Army.
Although seventeen year old Bob longs to enlist instead, Ellis refuses to permit this. Horrified of losing him, Jinnie pleads with Ellis to led Bob enlist in his place. Enraged, Ellis states that, if Bob were injured or killed, he could never live with himself.
With Jinnie seeing him off, Ellis departs by train join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Liverpool. Despite the insults showered on them by their English-speaking drill sergeant, Ellis and his fellow Fusiliers continue their training in good spirits and are sent to France.
Facing what may be his last chance to win the Eisteddfod, Ellis pleads with his commanding officer to send his awdl Yr Arwr (The Hero) via the Royal Mail. The Commander, who is unable to read Welsh, at first refuses, suspecting the poem to be a coded message to the Germans. Eventually, he relents, mails Ellis' submission, and praises him as, "The Armageddon Poet."
On July 31, 1917, the Fusiliers go over the top and into the Battle of Passchendaele. Crawling through swampy shell holes filled with corpses, Ellis witnesses his fellow soldiers being shot and blown to pieces around him. At last, he is wounded by shrapnel and crumples to the ground.
After hours of lying in no man's land, Ellis is evacuated to an improvised hospital, where he succumbs to his injuries.
His devastated parents receive a telegram which carries news of Ellis' death. Jinnie weeps inconsolably as she reads Ellis' last letter, in which her beloved used a poem to propose marriage. Gwen, in a last tribute to her friend, casts the manuscript to Ellis' poem Rhyfel (War) into the river.
The Evans family receives another telegram which announces that Ellis' submission has won the National Eisteddfod. To the sound of R. Williams Parry's Englynion coffa Hedd Wyn, the Chair which Ellis has dreamed of all his life is delivered to his parents' farmhouse robed in black.
Awards
Hedd Wyn was the first British film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. The film won the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Single Drama in 1993 and seven BAFTA Cymru Awards for Best Design (by Jane Roberts and Martin Morley), Best Director (Paul Turner), Best Drama - Welsh (Shan Davies and Paul Turner), Best Editor (Chris Lawrence), Best Original Music (John E.R. Hardy) and Best Screenwriter - Welsh (Alan Llwyd) in 1994.
References
- ^ "Media Education Wales: Hedd Wyn (English)". Media Ed website. British Film Institute. 2001. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - "The BFI: Hedd Wyn (1992)". British Film Institute website. British Film Institute. 2010. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104403/awards
