4 November 2018 marked the centenary of the death of poet Wilfred Owen. A new film about his life and death - The Burying Party - was screened at Genesis in London's East End to mark the day.
I was in illustrious company, including most of the cast and crew of this remarkable film, and Kenneth Branagh. Despite a technical hitch in the middle, this was a subdued audience for a stunning film that I certainly need to rewatch.
The film traces the last months of Owen's life - his meeting with Siegfried Sassoon and others who ultimately helped make him the poet he became. Without Sassoon, it is unlikely that his poetry would have been collected, published and championed. The film shows their relationship - as much as can be assumed from the letters and poetry they both left behind. Sassoon was one of the first to recognise the genius behind Owen's work: the work that was just beginning to be read more widely when he was killed in combat just one week before the end of World War One.
What the director of The Burying Party achieves effortlessly is blurring the lines between surmise and reality - many of the lines are taken directly from Owen and Sassoon's writings.
All in all, this is a glowing tribute to both men.
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