Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some thoughts | Final Verdict
The Story:
Another Country is a gay historical drama set in 1930s England. It’s about Guy Bennett (Rupert Everett) a gay student trying to live as openly as possible.
The film opens in Moscow in 1983 with Bennett being interviewed by an American journalist (Betsy Brantly) for being a spy for Russia. The journalist asks how he became a Soviet spy, and the story goes back to England in the 1930s, when Bennett was in public school.
Bennett’s best friend is Tommy Judd (Colin Firth), a Marxist with a distaste for colonialism. Judd refuses to participate in school politics, instead keeping to his studies. Judd and Bennett are supportive of each other, although Judd feels that Bennett should tone down his homosexual side.
Bennett starts seeing James Harcourt (Cary Elwes) and falls in love with him. The two spend most nights snuggling and talking into to late hours.
Bennett wants to become a God, a title for the two top prefects, which will help him become a diplomat after graduation. The only obstacle Bennett has for attaining his goal is Fowler (Tristan Oliver), an army-obsessed house captain and homophobe. Fowler gets a chance to punish Bennett with a caning when Bennett arrives for rollcall looking unkept. The only way Bennett can get out of the punishment is to talk to the Gods and threaten to tell stories of his sexual exploits with them, which works.
Fowler does not give up on getting Bennett in trouble, and intercepts a note that Bennett sends to Harcourt via one of the younger students. This time Bennett can’t get out of it and accepts the caning. And due to the homosexual content in the note, his reputation is ruined.
After the caning, Bennett finds out that he can’t become a God due to the scandal he put upon his classmates through the discovered note. Upset, he talks to Judd and wonders if not being a God will interfere with his chances of becoming a diplomat.
The movie then cuts back to 1983 and we get the wrap up.
Some Thoughts:
The cinematography, pacing and acting is good, but the story is a bit lacking. It begins with Bennett being a Soviet spy, and we expect to see a movie with a bit of intrigue. But instead of espionage, we get a film about how Bennett becomes disenchanted by colonialism. It’s a bit of a letdown, and poor use of a good cast.
Another Country is promoted as a gay film, and there is a good amount of homosexual pining going on. It’s all furtive glances and hand holding, there truly isn’t any of the sexual tension you would expect to find. Bennett and Harcourt’s dates are so lacking in sensuality that they may have well been playing Canasta.
And although the two people closest to Bennett are Harcourt and Judd, we find out little to nothing about what happened to them after school. We are told that Judd dies in the Spanish Civil War, and that Judd was tough until “the bloody fascists got him.” But that’s it. As for Harcourt, we find out nothing.
Also, if you know little about public school in England in the 1930s, there’s going to be a bit of a learning curve. It’s not difficult to figure out, but it does take some time.
The Final Verdict:
Another Country doesn’t deliver the story it promises, leaving the viewer confused and feeling a bit cheated. The acting and direction are good, but it never connects with the viewer. There are better gay historical dramas.