Another Country (1984)

June 20, 2020 7:38 AM

In Moscow in 1983, an American journalist interviews Guy Bennett, who recalls his last year at public school, fifty years before, and how it contributed to him becoming a spy. It explores his homosexuality and exposure to Marxism, while examining the hypocrisy and snobbery of the English public school system.
posted by Fizz (4 comments total)

This is currently streaming on Criterion, a part of celebrating Pride month and featuring a ton of queer cinema. It's pretty dark and very much a critique of the school system and it's culture of class, violence, bullying, homophobia, and much more.

If you have a chance to watch it, it's worth your time.
posted by Fizz at 7:42 AM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Colin Firth, Rupert Everett, Cary Elwes. If you like Brits with floppy schoolboy haircuts, this is the film for you. Honestly, you could watch just for Everett’s delivery of the line: “There's a little hollow at the base of his throat which make me want to pour honey all over him, and lick it off again.” Indeed.
posted by roger ackroyd at 10:27 AM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

THEY’RE ALL SO YOUNG. Except, of course, Rupert Everett in his old man pancake makeup. This was a quite good little drama, and I especially liked the (obvious?) move of essentially removing all adults from the story and letting it be about the power structures enforced by children on themselves. I do think it’s a bit meh tying the whole thing to the real Guy Burgess, who was gay but at least going by the Wikipedia gloss doesn’t really seem to fit the mold of a second-class queer in a squadron of straights.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:11 AM on June 21, 2020

Pairs well, perhaps, with "An Englishman Abroad," about a real life meeting in Moscow between a touring British actress and Guy Burgess, post-defection.
posted by baseballpajamas at 5:06 PM on June 27, 2020