Testament of Youth

⭐8/10

This is a movie based off a memoir of a nurse during WW1. It begins with the main character, played by Alicia Vikander, spending time with her friends and trying to get into Oxford as a woman in the 1910s. There's this budding (but admittedly unconvincing) romance between she and Jon Snow.  But that all changes when war breaks out and bodies start piling up and she begins losing everyone.

This is maybe a bit of a spoiler, but this is a SAD movie. It's very bleak. This is a true anti-war movie, the story written by an anti-war activist. She wants to help the war effort by becoming a nurse, but she becomes exposed to the horrors of this senseless violence. I think this movie does an amazing job of portraying that. These aren't acts of valour and bravery, the injuries aren't just funny stories from decades ago. This is miserable trench warfare, and the injuries completely decimate the potential of these bright young people. You often hear about how these wars changed people, and I think Vikander is pretty awesome in this movie, showing how these things slowly chip away at your humanity. You can never really go back to the way things were before the war. 

I thought this movie was super evocative. It made me think a lot. Maybe towards the end it got a little too direct, but I was totally eating up what they were putting out. I also think this movie shined a light on the incredible work that healthcare workers do. 

This movie was advertised as a romance, and while there are elements of that, it's definitely just a subplot. The thrust of this movie is Vikander losing her spark as she sees the worst of humanity. Especially now, as it seems like violence is escalating everywhere, I thought it was a pretty timely watch. Definitely recommended, but yeah, it's not an easy one to get through.