Abdallah H Saggaf
History 102
03/08/2013

MY BOY JACK

My boy jack is a very powerful movie that really moved me in a way that no other movie has in a long time. When I found out that this is about Rudyard Kipling’s son was based on a real event, my reaction to the film were even more sharp. When the movie was finished and the credits started rolling, I sat quietly, pondering the fear of war and all the sacrifices that come with it. It is indeed breath taking.

The cast of the film is very genuine. David Haig, whose face looked very familiar to me more than his name, really stood out. Not only does he look like the real Rudyard Kipling, but it is said that he spent over 20 years practicing to fit the real Kipling’s story to stage and screen. David plays Kipling role with great arrogance and patriotism. Even though what he was doing was not pleasant, putting his son in a dangerous situation, for most people it was credible.

Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe on the other hand is unforgettably good as the boy who enters the fray of WW1 despite being completely incompetent. Even though Jack had very poor eye site, this did not hold back Kipling’s actions to help his son join the army force. His performance as Jack is very real that as some point, I internally screamed NO! when he directs and leads his group to fight. Daniel Radcliffe brings both power and sadness at the same time in his role, especially when he speaks to his father for the last time and takes off.

Another very significant cast member is Carrie Mulligan. Carrie began her acting career in 2005 and even though she is an Amature when is comes to acting, she displayed a very

Professional part playing as Kipling’s independent daughter, Elsie - the only one of Kipling’s three daughters to live past the age of 18.

Kim Cattrall (Carrie) delivers and magnificent performance as Kipling’s wife and the mother of Jack and Elsie. She depicts Carrie as a very strong woman who fought the press and he public so as her husband (Kipling) would have all the privacy he wants to write. She was a woman of her time, humbly accepting to whatever her husband says.

My boy jack basically tells us a story about Kilping family, of Jack’s sad destiny, and of his family’s especially his fathers guilt over his sons loss.

Jack’s American mother Caroline, wants her husband (Rudyard Kipling) to find jack a normal desk job, whereby he can also contribute to the war since he can’t physically fight due to his disability. Sadly, Kipling breaks her promise and uses his influence to get a spot for his son in the army. Jack seems to be very happy and living up to his father’s desires. He quickly masters all the trainings and moves up to be a young respectable officer. One of the most moving parts of this film was when Jack tries to hit the target in training and misses terribly. He could hardly see anything because his glasses keep slipping down his face as it was raining. We also see how dedicated Jack is to this army post as he maneuvers a way to make his specs stick to his face by using clay.

Jack becomes very popular in his troop. He is a great leader and trains hard and sometimes even on off-duty hours to overcome the disability that is his eyesight. Six months later, Jack sails to France and is given a lieutenant title. Jack has extra pair of spectacles in his pocket and written permission granted by his father to travel to the warzone and frontlines before his eighteenth birthday. On the day of his eighteenth birthday, Jack receives news that he will be deployed the following day.

This slow moving film is captivating as a portrait of the great poet Rudyard Kipling. It also shows us the power of guilt and grief in life. As Rudyard Kipling realize that his son has gone missing, we see him move into complete refusal that anything serious happened to his son, even though his face is covered with fear of the worst that could possibly happen. While Kipling is still in a state of shock, Caroline on the other hand is busy with finding a word or anything about her missing son. She hopes that he is in a wounded shelter somewhere and is determined to find him.

The narrator’s technique was pretty interesting to me where he puts together the story from the beginning as we get to know both Kipling and Jack. We spend most of the time with both characters as we see their interactions with the females in the house and listening to some speeches of Rudyard Kipling about the war. We also watch scenes where the father does what it takes to get his son into the military, while also watching how frustrated jack becomes as he fails his medical exams. We further on see the rain-soaked battle that Jack leads one day after his 18th birthday. He is unskilled and has a group of soldiers behind him who are full of fear. All of a sudden, Jack is gone, not only from the film, but from their lives.

As jack goes missing, the whole family is covered with sadness and fear of the worst as they go through thousands of pictures of wounded soldiers. The pictures they see shows them what exactly the risk they took and how dangerous it is letting their son go to war. They look at the pictures one by one interviewing different soldiers who fought anywhere near the battle that day.

At this point, Kipling becomes exhausted as they have been looking at the pictures over and over again without any success. Carrie, the mother insists on looking at the pictures one more time, hoping they will come across a picture of their beloved son. And so they do. Sadly, Jack is nowhere to be seen.

A very sad moment as Kipling walks out the next morning and saw Jack’s little brother cleaning jacks bike as jack asked him to do so when he was gone. Kipling sits down and burst out into tears asking him self if he was the reason for all this to happen.

The final minutes are quite emotional as Rudyard is overwhelmed by guilt over the roll he played of getting his son into the danger zones of war. He also gets it really bad when the mother and the sister also blame him for all what they are going through. We also find out that all the pride and patriotism that Kipling has for his country, the honorary title he wore as one of the most respectable people in the county appear empty because he lost someone who appears to be more important than anything.

Personally, I find the ending part a little unexpected. I wanted to know what happened next, what happened to the family in years to come…did they make peace with themselves, with God, with Jack’s death? Did Kipling ever forgive himself? I went on and searched about this a little and found out that there was an original play of this movie and that it went on carrying the family into the years following the war and their loss. I wonder why they decided to end the film where it did. After all the film was just an hour and thirty minutes, I am sure they could have squeezed in at least thirty minutes more. (Oh well)

But regardless of the feeling I had of wanting to know more of what happen and emotionally deal with the grief this family was feeling, I still glorify the movie for making me feel strongly sad and emotional. Within a short period of time I was fully immersed into this very historical drama about a family whose grief is widely known but not very different from what thousands of parents go through when they loose their sons and daughters during world war.

My boy jack is definitely one of the most moving and touching movies I have ever watched. It was well acted and makes you feel like you were there when all this was happening. My boy Jack is worth watching, especially if you a loved one who lost his/her life during war.
Being familiar with rifles myself, I think there was one mistake they over looked as they were writing this movie. Since I am a rifle fan, I researched about the rifles they were using during the world war and one thing stood out for me. In the movie the soldiers are being taught to fire the trigger using their index finger. This is very incorrect. Soldiers back then (during world war) were taught to fire the trigger using their middle finger while the index finger and the thumb worked the bolt. This proved to be a faster way of shooting as it was speeding up the rate of fire and soldiers adapted it. But when you look closely at the some scenes in the movie the soldiers where clearly shown releasing the bolt with their middle finger in order to you their index finger to fire.

Work cited

Holt, Tonie, and Valmai. My Boy Jack? publication place: Pen and Sword Books, 2011.

Robinson, Ernest H. Rifle Training for War. Edited by John W. Hurley. publication place: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010.