Hide and seek | 23 March 2017

Two films for you this week, one of which is surprisingly good and one of which does not surprise in the least. Shall we be unsurprised first?

OK, Another Mother’s Son, set during the second world war on Nazi-occupied Jersey, is based on the true story of Louisa Gould, who took in an escaped Russian PoW for the course of the war. Louisa Gold, what a mensch — she would later be named a ‘Hero of the Holocaust’. But it’s the kind of story that has been told countless times (I blame Anne Frank), and here it’s told in such a perfunctory, plodding way that it brings nothing new to the party. It’s simply as if an episode of Bergerac had developed ideas above its station — or a fancy for jackboots.

Jenny Seagrove plays Louisa, who has lost a son to the war, and seen how cruelly the Germans treat their Russian prisoners, so takes in Feodor (Julian Kostov), who is on the run. She calls him ‘Bill’, and also ‘my love’, which, I have to say, creeped me out, while he cleans up nicely, proves a wonder at languages — learns English overnight, seemingly — and those horrific wounds to his back, which she spots when he takes a bath on his first night? Never mentioned again although, heck, they would have to smart.

Judging from this, Louisa is not naturally gifted at hiding fugitives. It could even be said that she may be the worst hider of fugitives known to man. What a mensch and all that, but even so. Subject to Nazi searches at any time, she does not install Bill in an attic or cellar, but in a bedroom. Situated on an island known to house informants, she takes Bill shopping, to church, to the park.