Film review: ‘ALLELUJAH’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’

British playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys; The Lady in the Van) has been documenting and dramatising the British character and the country’s institutions for decades. His play Allelujah, which examined the health system and its impact on the vulnerable people within in it has now been turned into a film.  While at times very affecting, occasionally grim, sometimes amusing, this meditation on ageing, mortality and the desperate plight of a health system besieged by neo-liberal economic rationalists doesn’t entirely hold together.

Set at the small Yorkshire Bethlehem geriatric hospital or the Beth as its denizens affectionately refer to it, the film introduces us to a collection of characters who either warm our hearts, make us deeply sad or make our blood boil.At the centre of the story are the hospital’s lead physician (and the film’s occasional narrator) Dr Valentine (an anglicised version of his real name) (Bally Gill).  He extols his love for older people from the beginning and attempts to bring compassion and dignity to the patients in his care.  The entire time he’s battling not only human frailty but dwindling funds as a conservative government seeks to eliminate supposedly inefficient small-scale facilities from the NHS and wants to close the Beth.  The government’s attack on the hospital is embodied by the arrogant and abrupt young management consultant Colin (Russell Tovey) who is compiling evidence to shut down the Beth even though his ailing father Joe (Harry Potters’ David Bradley) is being treated there.  Also, among the patients fearing the Beth’s closure are the erudite and slightly acerbic former schoolmaster, Ambrose (Derek Jacobi) and the anxious introverted former librarian, Mary (Judy Dench).  Seemingly holding the place together is the rigorously efficient head nurse Sister Gilpin (Jennifer Saunders). The film builds mini dramas around these characters: Colin dealing with his father’s harsh manner and contempt for his being gay, Sister Gilpin identifying how her life is consumed by her work and Ambrose awaiting a visitor who never seems to arrive.

Bennett, co-writer Heidi Thomas’ and director Richard Eyre extract some touching and poignant moments from the characters’ stories and from their impassioned plea for dignity, quality of life and the preservation of great social achievements like a public health system. It’s often emotional but the dialogue generally avoids sentimentality.

Still, the story at times feels stretched trying to keep up with its large ensemble of characters and some scenes end up only as sketches. A cast that includes the absolute apex of British thespian talent with Dench and Jacobi is a pleasure to watch but they’re given oddly limited screen time and Dench’s Mary is more of a cypher for events than a fully formed person.  Also, a couple of characters don’t quite ring true, Dr Valentine, for example, is a little too saintly; he never becomes flustered and he often speaks in quasi-poetic aphorisms.  The script also includes some quirky humour which feels at odds with the rest of the film, especially the stereotypical ‘old people behaving disgracefully’ sex jokes.  Occasionally, the film’s stage roots show through a bit too obviously with scenes feeling a little rigid and strategically placed rather than organic.

For the most part, the strengths of this often erudite and thoughtful film outweigh its weaknesses but the missteps diminish what could have been a powerful exploration of our attitude to vital institutions and the people they protect.

Nick’s rating: ***

Genre: Drama.

Classification: M.

Director(s): Richard Eyre.

Release date: 6th Apr 2023..

Running time: 99 mins.

Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.

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