Derek Jarman, War Requiem (1989)

One could view Derek Jarman's "War Requiem" as a "pop video" made for a piece of classical music or as a silent film with Benjamin Britten's music as background. The film combines four things: the poetry of Wilfred Owen, the traditional Latin requiem mass for the dead (traditional expression of mourning), Benjamin Britten's music and the images of war selected by Derek Jarman. It is loosely based on the life of the poet Wilfred Owen. Laurence Olivier appears as an old soldier in a nursing home and was one of his last film appearances before his death.

[See my guide to this film.]

• 7 mins 44 [.m4v 216 MB]