AFI L.A. International Festival: Capsule Reviews

Following are capsule reviews of today’s screenings in the American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival at the Cineplex Odeon Century Plaza Cinemas:

‘War Requiem’

Great Britain, 1988, 85 minutes 9 p.m. In this complex, beautiful, harrowing and utterly demanding film, Derek Jarman has created a stylized, often surreal visual accompaniment to the Benjamin Britten oratorio, which was inspired by the work of World War I poet Wilfred Owen. Told from the perspective of an elderly veteran (Laurence Olivier, in a poignant, silent cameo), the film re-creates the Great War through archival clips, vignettes and religious tableaux in an attempt to give meaning to all those who sacrificed so much for king and country. Jarman, however, moves well beyond nostalgic patriotism to make a stunningly effective anti-war protest as the horrors of World War I give way to images of the conflicts that have risen since “the war to end all wars.” RECOMMENDED.