Think Of England

In summer 1943 six disparate people find themselves on a remote Orkney island tasked with a top-secret mission: to produce a series of pornographic films made as part of an experiment in how to boost morale on the front line.

The assembled company includes Corporal Harry Evans (Jack Bandeira), a former cinema tough guy who answered the nation’s call across Crete, North Africa and Sicily, and who is now under the shadow of a court martial; Holly Spurring (Natalie Quarry), an aspiring actress and munitions worker with 20 screen tests but not a single call-back to her name; and the Jewish-German movie director Max Meyer (Ben Bela Böhm), who has fled the Nazi threat, bringing to an end the start of a glittering career directing some of cinema’s biggest movie stars.

Finding themselves ingloriously thrust together, along with Ministry of Information officer Captain Clune (John McCrea), costume and makeup artist Agnes (Ronni Ancona), and young sound apprentice Clifford (Ollie Maddigan), the group attempt to fulfil their orders. As the shoot progresses each finds themselves facing their own trauma as boundaries are pushed and the project begins to unravel…

BAFTA-nominated director Richard Hawkins’ powerful and award-winning period satire boasts excellent performances throughout, including breakouts for Quarry, Bandeira and Böhm, and the film deftly touches on the mental toll of living through wartime and what it means to give everything for your country.