Cate Blanchett is one of the most talented actresses in film today. I thought she was marvelous in the film Charlotte Gray too. I've added it to my film database. In reviewing my review, I realized once again how prescient the closing statement is. Spoken by Michael Gambon, he says: "My shame is living long enough to see my country betray itself." I thought of our current situation in Iraq, how Bush and his administration created a lie in order to get us to agree to his war. In some respects, his words find meaning in our time.
CHARLOTTE GRAY is a World War II film about a British woman whose lover has been shot down over France. She joins the British Corp. as a spy so she can go to France to attempt to find him. While in the free zone of France, she works for a group of Communists who are helping the Resistance against the Germans.
Cate Blanchet, the Best Actress nominee for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in the film ELIZABETH, plays Charlotte Gray.
One of the most memorable sub-stories in this film occurs when the French police have started arresting Jews. Two Jewish boys are left abandoned one night while they were out playing in the hay fields. They returned to the house only to find it empty.
The leader of the Communist group, who is working with Charlotte Gray, discovers the boys wandering the streets of the village and boards them with his father in the countryside. He also encourages Charlotte to be the housekeeper so that she can care for the boys and so no one will suspect her as being a spy. As she cares for the boys, she realizes that they are unaware of their parents fate; they feel that their parents abandoned them because they did not love them.
Through a series of unfortunate events, the boys are discovered and placed on a train to a Polish concentration camp. Before the train is to leave, Charlotte types out a letter and runs it to the station. She finds the car the boys are in and slips them the letter. When the letter is read, we realize that Charlotte has written to the boys as if she were their mother. She explains that they are in Paris doing work for the war, that all is well, and that they will be together again when the war is over. She ends the letter revealing a great love for them.
After the letter is read, we see the boys touch the letter. One feels the edges of the paper while the other feels the indentations of the words caused by the typewriter.
The film succeeds in impressively recreating the details of a World War II London and French countryside. The acting, also, made up for a script that lacked complexity, maybe because it focused on a love-triangle that seemed to end too conveniently. But on a whole, there were meaningful moments in the film I'll not easily forget. I already mentioned one above. I also found a line worthy of recognition. Consider this:
During a nightly conversation between an elderly man (who had fought during World War I and received France's highest honor) and Charlotte, the man (Michael Gambon) says a most poignant line: "My shame is living long enough to see my country betray itself."
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