Wondrous Oblivion Movie Review:


Synopsis:

Eleven-year-old David Wiseman is mad about cricket – unfortunately, he’s not terribly good at it; indeed, his stunning ineptitude with bat and ball has made him the laughing-stock of his school. When a Jamaican family move in next door and build a cricket net in the back garden, he’s in seventh heaven – but in 1960s England, their arrival inflames local feeling, and David (and his Jewish family) find themselves caught in the middle of a tangle of racial tensions that turn all their worlds upside down.

David Wiseman is an eleven year – old cricket fiend, but unluckily for him, his skills on the field are not up to scratch and he’s relegated to the lowly position of score keeper on the school team.
Things change when his new neighbours, a Jamaican family, move in and turn their back garden into a mini – pavilion, where David gets some real training in the game, and in life.

The first mistake is to imagine that the essence of this story is anything to do with cricket. That would be like saying, “Bend it Like Beckham”, or “Shaolin Soccer” are only of interest to football fans. There are far more important themes than cricket in this movie.

It must be said that pre-viewing, the cricket tag brought with it a sort of “Hugh Grant Dread”. (No offence intended to Mr Grant, it’s just that he will insist on associating himself with ‘charming’ projects.)

That’s the feeling you get when you sense an overly quaint film where lots of people say “gosh” a lot, and everyone gets married at the end. This isn’t like that, honest!

Admittedly, in the first ten minutes or so it looks like it’s dipping its foot in the water. When a mob of public schoolboys appears, and someone utters the line “hard cheese”, (a line only Mr Burns from The Simpsons can carry off), the prognosis is not great.

But things pick up, in particular when we get to see David’s collection of cigarette cards - complete with ickle cricketer pictures. They move and talk! This is a cute concept and seeing the black and white fuzzy images transports you back to the Sixties, when the movie is set, with ease.

Although the people in the movie are brought together by their love of the sport, they realise they have a lot more in common than first thought, especially as David is from a Jewish family in a street filled with narrow minded locals, and the new family next door are black. The locals treat both families with quiet contempt.

There is also a tension between the two families, which takes time to melt, although it must be said we only see this from the Wiseman’s perspective. It would have been interesting get inside the homes and heads of the new family, to see what they made of their nosey neighbours.

For a relatively gentle film, some of the terms used to generalise and insult people are quite shocking, but at least the script doesn’t shy away from its portrayals of racism at that time.

The bond that develops between David and his new found coach is very heart - warming, and as the families become closer (sometimes too close!) the real story begins to unravel.

One flaw is that each character seems to fit a bit too well into a cliché box, and it is also unrealistic to think that people who have spent their entire lives as bigots can change so suddenly, and even if they do, why should they be immediately granted forgiveness?

It also dawdles a little too much towards the end, but comes good with a non – sugar coated conclusion. It probably won’t be a smash in the style of “Billy Elliot”, and it lacks the comedy timing of “East is East,” but the acting is great throughout and it deals with most of the themes in a mature and realistic way.

A pleasant, and completely “gosh” – free movie.

Terresa Gaffney

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