REGENERATION

U.K., 1998, 114 minutes, Colour.
Jonathan Pryce, James Wilby, Jonny Lee Miller, Stuart Bunce, Dougray Scott, John Neville, Tanya Allen, Julian Fellowes, Kevin Mca Kidd, David Hayman.
Directed by Gillies Mackinnon

During World War I, Dr William Rivers is in charge of a psychiatric unit in Scotland. A sympathetic man, he gives himself completely (even to identifying with patients in dreams) to the recovery of shell-shocked and traumatised soldiers.

In his care is the poet, Siegfried Sassoon, who has written anti-war letters to the government while still willing to fight at the front. Another is the younger poet, Wilfrid Owen. Other hospitalised soldiers include Billy Prior who has lost his power of speech and whom Rivers guides back to face
the horror of his ordeal in the trenches.

Sassoon helps Owen with his poetry. Sassoon refuses to face a tribunal but Rivers pleads his case and Sassoon returns to active service. Owen also goes to France where he is killed in action. Prior is given leave and meets a young woman called Sarah with whom he has an affair.

Dr Rivers goes to London to witness Dr Yealland using shock therapy on soldiers. Yealland makes forcible demands on the will of his patients to effect their cure. Dr Rivers finds this too brutal and returns to Scotland to continue his work at the hospital.

Regeneration has been adapted from the first in a trilogy by Booker Prize winning novelist, Pat Barker. (She won the Booker for the third novel in the trilogy, The Ghost Road.) Director is Scot, Gillies Mackinnon, who has made a variety of films including Small Faces, Hideous Kinky and A Small Twist of Fate, an adaptation of Silas Marner with Steve Martin.

The centre of attention of the movie is a psychiatric unit. A great deal of the running time shows Dr Rivers treating his patients. Poets Sassoon and Owen are based on actual characters and the movie shows their friendship and creative writing. Billy Prior is fictitious (and his character is a great deal simplified from the novel).

There are many harrowing sequences, not only the therapy sessions but Rivers' dreams and those of his patients as well as flashbacks to the trench warfare, especially the episode concerning Billy Prior and a dead man's eye. The movie changes visual style and editing for these sequences. Quite horrific is the extended sequence of the confident doctor who uses shock treatment for his patients.

However, the tone of the movie is also one of hope for healing, especially with its title, 'Regeneration'.

1.The World War One film tradition, the fighting in the trenches, suffering in the trenches, the style of warfare, hand-to-hand, the harshness, the heroism, suffering, the consequences for the soldiers, breakdown? Desertion?

2.The title, new birth, healing, trauma, health - to be ready to go to war again?

3.The trench scenes, the overviews of the landscapes, the detail of life in the trenches, sudden deaths, Pryor and his finding the eye?

4.The Scottish settings, the mansion, the grounds, the interiors, Doctor Rivers' office, the rooms for the men, the dining room, the surrounding countryside? London and the shock therapy room? The musical score?

5.The novel, reputation, adaptation, characters, plot and ideas?

6.Perspective on World War One now, the ethos, the war to end all wars, defence of Europe, assisting beleaguered countries, the change in aggression? Patriotism and duty? Officers, their surviving three months? Upper class stammering, lower class mute? The leaders and the reasons for war, prolonging the war? The British pride in the soldiers - the scene of the old man praising Pryor in the pub? The young men, dying at seventeen? The expectations? The aftermath, World War Two?

7.The introduction, Owen, walking in the countryside, the dead animals, the naked man, his madness, taking him to Doctor Rivers? Sassoon and his arrival? Pryor and his keeping quiet? Rivers and the authorities?

8.Psychiatry at the time, Rivers and his reputation, his discussion about nightmares, his sense of duty? Orders, superiors, his skill in counselling, empathy? The toll on his health? The continued challenges? His sharing of the hurt of the soldiers? His achievement? Thanks from the men?

9.The British military, the political visitors and their comments, inspections, the panel for Sassoon, expectations, Sassoon's protests, the reactions, the newspapers, wanting him to recant, the authorities wanting Rivers to change him, his final decision and the end panel?

10.The background of the World War One poetry, Sassoon and his reputation, the death of his brother, the grief of his mother? The comments about him being part Jewish and its effect on him? The friendship with Owen, Owen wanting his autograph, admiring him, their sharing views, the commentaries on the poetry, the Anthem for Doomed Youth? The final letter from Sassoon, Rivers reading it, the use of the story of Abraham and Isaac, and the image of the father actually slaying his children - and the death of European young men?

11.Robert Graves, his reputation, friendship with Sassoon, the visit, talking with him, his reports?

12.The treatment of the patients, their dreams, remembering nightmares or not, life in the institution, playing of the games, the dining room?

13.Sassoon and his stances, his experience, his memories and the visualising in flashbacks, playing golf, discussions with Rivers, the discussions about poetry with Owen, his protest, his stance on the war - and the dining room scene? His final sense of duty, urging Owen to go back to the war, to improve his poetry? The comment that he was happy at the end? The final letter to Rivers, quoting Owen?

14.Pryor, the ordinary young man, mute, sullen, the difficulty with his throat, his calling out, beginning to talk? His dreams, inability to remember four days, gradually filling it in? the build-up to the flashbacks and the memory of the eye? Angers, hatred, criticism of the upper classes, talking with Rivers, antagonism, the breakthrough, weeping, offering his thanks?

15.Sarah, in the pub, talking with Pryor, her experience in visiting the ward, her horror, the sexual relationship - and the final image of Sarah and Pryor?

16.The themes of the shock treatment?

17.Rivers, as a character, role model, military man, psychiatrist, empathetic? His achievement?

18.The end of the war, the joy? The irony of only twenty years to World War Two?