Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sharon Horgan, Jason Flemyng, Emma Lowndes, Greg Wise, Gaby French, Lara Rossi
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Release date: 6th March 2020
In Flitcroft Garrison, army families live on base just as they would in any other town. Soldiers are soon deployed and leave their families behind, wondering each time if they will ever see them again. After they are gone, the wives are left to carry on with their lives and look after their children and teenagers. To pass the time they have coffee mornings and gatherings to keep their sanity and chat with each other. The Colonel’s wife, Kate (Kristin Scott Thomas) is exceptionally organised and quite overbearing. She finds it difficult to mix with the other wives, after suffering a tragedy some years before. Some of the other wives are also struggling with the waiting for news and the not knowing… Ideas are banded about for ways they can keep themselves occupied and one day, someone suggests starting a choir. Their talents are very mixed and slowly but surely, their sound begins to take shape.
Power struggles within the group almost finish the whole thing but the women must learn to work together for the greater good…
‘Military Wives’ is based on the true story of a network of 75 choirs that were formed in British Military bases across the United Kingdom and also overseas. They were featured in a TV series in 2011 called ‘The Choir: Military Wives’, in which singing teacher Gareth Malone attempted to teach choral singing to people who had never sung before.
Even though this movie is not a 100% true enactment of the story of the Military Wives choir, it’s still a fantastic and heart warming story. With a fantastic cast, ably led by Kristin Scott Thomas and the brilliant Sharon Horgan, it’s a story of friendship, belief and hard work which always pays off in the end.
A small group of women, who lived each day not knowing if or when their husbands, brothers and sons would return from the fighting in Afghanistan, they banded together for their own sanity.
If you’re a fan of great stories that will stay with you for a long time after you’ve watched them, then give ‘Military Wives’ a watch.
Overall: 8/10
