MY BOY JACK

UK, 2007, 95 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Radcliffe, David Haig, Kim Cattrall, Carey Mulligan, Julian Wadham.
Directed by Brian Kirk.

My Boy Jack was originally a theatre piece written by its star David Haig. He has adapted it for the small screen. Haig had researched Rudyard Kipling for over twenty years and finally wrote his theatre piece as well as his film. He is convincing as Kipling himself, and shows an insight into Kipling, his sense of empire, his wartime experience with the loss of his son.

Kipling had become a significant figure in England by the beginning of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. A patriot, a believer in empire, especially from his growing up in India, he was alert to the dangers of the outbreak of World War One. He gave many speeches, stirring young men up to enlist, including his myopic son, Jack. He also contributed to the propaganda office for the war effort.

Daniel Radcliffe, during the making of the Harry Potter films, portrays Jack Kipling. In some ways he is similar to a grown-up Harry Potter. However, this is the kind of role that Daniel Radcliffe can do well. Kim Cattrall is very good as his mother and Carey Mulligan as his sister. Julian Wadham appears as a rather jovial and bluff King George V.

The film focuses on the outbreak of the war, Rudyard Kipling and his reputation, his relationship with his family, his son going through the processes for admission to the navy and the army and his father getting him accepted. The film also shows some of the trench warfare in vivid detail. It also gives alarming statistics of the numbers of men killed, even on the first day of the war. It shows the dithering of the officials, the admission of many defeats. It is interesting to note in this light, the ultimate victory (with the help of the Americans). Kipling himself then questions himself about what he has done to ensure that his son went to war – and was killed.

The film was directed by Brian Kirk, a television director who also made a rather strange film about an Irish village and its even stranger priest, Middletown.

1.Audience interest in Rudyard Kipling? His son? World War One? The motivations? The action, the losses?

2.The authentic atmosphere of the period, filming at Kipling’s own house for exteriors? London, army and navy, recruiting? The halls for rallying speeches? The War Office? The musical score?

3.Audience knowledge of Rudyard Kipling? As a personality? Kim, The Jungle Book, his poetry? His Nobel Prize? His status in England? His urging awareness of the German invasion and the build-up of troops? His being asked to be quiet? The king’s support? His talent with words? His working for propaganda, writing articles?

4.Jack Kipling, seventeen, at school, his glasses and the need for them, his going to the navy recruiting, his inability to see the letters? His discussions with his father? Wanting to leave home? Love for his mother, the bonds with his sister? His father organising a session with the army? His being tested in front of his father? The risks with his eyes, the loss of his glasses? Kipling putting pressure on authorities, his interview with Roberts, the pulling of strings? Jack getting his commission? Coming home, talking with his parents, his mother’s reaction? The sequences of his training, the need for glasses, firing the rifle, the adhesive for his glasses, his skills? Becoming an officer, training the Irish recruits? Giving an example? In the trenches, his leadership, kindness, the powder on the feet of the wounded man? The preparations for going over the top? His leading? The slaughter? The final flashbacks with the Irishman telling his parents? Seeing him in action, going to the gunner’s nest, his concern, his being killed?

5.The Kipling family, Kipling receiving the telegram, his wife’s reaction? Her blaming her husband? The scenes between the two, intimacy, talking? The grief, the sister coming in, her having blamed her father?

6.Mrs Kipling and her being energised, talking with the authorities, demanding information? Going through the photos of prisoners, interviewing the various soldiers? The final interview, the truth?

7.The background of the young men who went to war, their willingness, the recruiting speeches, their applause?

8.King George V, his support of Kipling, the road tests? The death of his own son? Illness?

9.The officers and officials, the reviewing of each day’s fighting, the information about the losses of life, the huge numbers, the defeats? The deaths – and the battle of Loos where Jack Kipling died, the gaining of two thousand yards?

10.The film made in the years of the invasion of Iraq, the battles in Afghanistan? British military, British morale? The experience of loss of life? Patriotism and grief?