In the first fifteen minutes ,Bruce is depicted as a sportsman ,from a working-class family , whose brother Harold,still a virgin, is to marry Gladys ; he's not at ease in his family -one does not know that, under a tough attitude , he conceals a poet's soul .The wedding celebration confirms it:he is the life and soul of the party ,when he delivers his speech to wish well the bride and the groom .
Hence the contrast with the following scenes ; he collapses ,one thinks he is dead drunk ; the screenwriters switch abruptly from comedy to tragedy ;overnight he 's stricken by a desease which ,like polio, leaves him a disabled young man , in a wheelchair for life.Overnight , he's left on his own :after Harold takes his brother to the home for disableed persons ,he is almost completely absent from the story .
The depiction of the home and of the stranglehold the Church has on it is perfectly captured:Bruce feels like "the child of a lesser God " and does not care about religion solace ; the matron, who appears nice at first sight is actually another nurse Ratched ("one flew over the cuckoo's nest").
The meeting with Jill changes everything :she is neglected by her eternal fiancé who tries to duck out of an embarrassing situation ; not only they have both found someone to rely on, but it inspires Bruce's writer talent :his poem he reads on the beach goes straight to the heart ; the hypocrit feast where the benefactors come to watch their protégés is given a rough ride by both handicapped mates .But the main problem remains:is physical love possible in this bigot milieu?
Malcolm Mc Dowell ,probably the best English actor of his generation ,cast against type, gives a deeply moving performance , brillantly supported by Nanette Newman as his love interest.
The ending may seem over the top but the last picture is superb in its simplicity.
Hence the contrast with the following scenes ; he collapses ,one thinks he is dead drunk ; the screenwriters switch abruptly from comedy to tragedy ;overnight he 's stricken by a desease which ,like polio, leaves him a disabled young man , in a wheelchair for life.Overnight , he's left on his own :after Harold takes his brother to the home for disableed persons ,he is almost completely absent from the story .
The depiction of the home and of the stranglehold the Church has on it is perfectly captured:Bruce feels like "the child of a lesser God " and does not care about religion solace ; the matron, who appears nice at first sight is actually another nurse Ratched ("one flew over the cuckoo's nest").
The meeting with Jill changes everything :she is neglected by her eternal fiancé who tries to duck out of an embarrassing situation ; not only they have both found someone to rely on, but it inspires Bruce's writer talent :his poem he reads on the beach goes straight to the heart ; the hypocrit feast where the benefactors come to watch their protégés is given a rough ride by both handicapped mates .But the main problem remains:is physical love possible in this bigot milieu?
Malcolm Mc Dowell ,probably the best English actor of his generation ,cast against type, gives a deeply moving performance , brillantly supported by Nanette Newman as his love interest.
The ending may seem over the top but the last picture is superb in its simplicity.