Following a rapturous response at the London Film Festival, a new trailer for World War I drama Testament Of Youth has debuted online from Lionsgate. The big screen version of Vera Brittain’s story, or more accurately, her memoir has surfaced just in time to stand as a centennial tribute to the First World War. For those unfamiliar with Brittain, the tale of the young nurse’s personal journey during wartime England is summed up perfectly in this rather moving trailer.
Leading the film is Alicia Vikander as Brittain with Game Of Thrones northerner Kit Harington as her fiance, Roland Leighton. The latter manages to demonstrate that he has far more range than many assume, coming across like a young Colin Firth. Instead of merely trotting out Jon Snow in a less shabby outfit, Harington brings a surprising emotional verve to the trailer.
Of course, for an English period drama it’s customary to enlist as many high profile national acting talents as is humanly possible. For Testament Of Youth, that tradition still remains alive and kicking. Fleshing out the supporting cast are Hayley Atwell, Dominic West, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor, who all appear to prop up this harrowing period drama.
Testament Of Youth will hit UK cinemas on January 26th 2015. No US release date has been confirmed, but we’ll keep you posted when we learn more.
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH is a searing story of love and war. Based on the classic First World War memoir, this is the incredible true story of one young woman’s struggle to survive the horrors of war, which robbed her of everyone and everything she held dear, but was ultimately unable to break her extraordinary spirit.
Vera Brittain, irrepressible, intelligent and free-minded, overcomes the prejudices of her family and hometown to win a scholarship to Oxford. With everything to live for, she falls in love with her brother’s close friend Roland Leighton as they go to University to pursue their literary dreams. But the First World War is looming and as the boys leave for the front Vera realises she cannot sit idly by as her peers fight for their country, so volunteers as a nurse. She works tirelessly, experiencing all the grief of war, as one by one her fiancé, her brother and their closest friends are all killed and the pillars of her world shattered. But, an indefatigable spirit, Vera endures and returns to Oxford, irrevocably changed, yet determined to create a world in which such a war can never take place again.
