Regeneration (1997)
#28 in my 2007 movie challenge was director Gillies MacKinnon’s Regeneration, based on Pat Barker’s excellent historical novel of the same name, and released in the U.S. as Behind the Lines. Like many book adaptations, Regeneration’s reach exceeds its grasp. The movie unsuccessfully crams in too many elements of the book, and ends up doing justice to very few of them. As an illustration of the book, it is well cast. Jonathan Pryce is Capt. William Rivers, a pioneer in psychology. Jonny Lee Miller (an ex-husband of Angelina Jolie, and business partner of Ewan MacGregor and Jude Law) does a good job as Billy Prior, one of my favorite fictional characters, though the film glances over or omits many of his myriad complexities. Tanya Allen is sweet and sympathetic as his girlfriend Sarah. Many films have tried to capture the physical experience of combat; Regeneration excels as an exploration of the psychological effects of warfare. There are very good things here, but not enough of them for me to strongly recommend the film. The book, however, is one of my all-time favorites.