FEW MOVIES ABOUT WORLD WAR II focus explicitly on the generation of children who endured the conflict. An exception is Hope and Glory, released in 1987 and written, produced, and directed by John Boorman. Inspired by Boorman’s own youth, the film provides a semi-autobiographical account of what it was like to grow up in wartime England, particularly during the Blitz—the Luftwaffe’s extended night raids that pummeled London from September 1940 through May 1941.
When the warold—just three or so years younger than the film’s protagonist, Billy Rowan (exuberantly portrayed by Sebastian Rice-Edwards). Key supporting characters include Billy’s mother, Grace (Sarah Miles); father, Clive (David Hayman); 16-year-old sister, Dawn (Sammi Davis); and grandfather, George (Ian Bannen). In broad outline, is a comedy, though not without moments of poignant drama. Young Billy generally finds the war to be a marvelous adventure—especially the frequent intervals during which he and a band of friends gleefully smash the few surviving items from neighborhood homes destroyed in the raids.
