Before getting the chance to see Garth Jennings' Son of Rambow I heard one critic's minor beef with the film. The gist of his qualm was that when the main characters from Rambow (Two young boys in an unspecified English village) set out to make their own version of Rambo: First Blood , they completely miss the underlying political and anti-war tones of the 80's Sylvester Stallone action pic. After seeing Jennings' funny and often touching film about pre-adolescence and friendship I rejoice in the innocence of a couple boys who see a movie, fall in love with the magic that such escapism possesses, and set out to interpret that awe themselves in the only medium they possess: The home movie. The fact that such meta-narratives a Rambo film might try to parlay are completely lost to these boys is truly fine with me. (Honestly, does Sly really have that much to say..?) I can relate to these two boys' wonder and desire to escape from the world they know for one they try to imagine because like many others, I have been there before.
Will Proudfoot comes from a strict religious home in which virtually all forms of entertainment are shunned. Music, movies, television, even instructional videos are a form of a lesser form of evil that no young boy should subject his mind to. When Will meets his polar opposite in Lee Carter, an unlikely friendship begins to emerge. With the help of one film, one camera, and a slew of classmates the boys set out to make the greatest movie they can.
3.5/5
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