‘I AM A GOOD PERSON. I DO NOT TAKE JOY IN PLAYING THESE CHARACTERS’
I am, and have always been, something of a second world war nut. My interest has become even more acute as the years have accumulated, with my attention shifting at any one point between the war’s various stories, battles, campaigns, services and national contributions. However, I can say for certain how it all started, and that was with Matthew Modine.
My late grandfather was a bomber navigator in the war. He spent inordinate hours in the air in one of those glass noses you see on bombers, doing a job in which there was a high probability you wouldn’t return home. He died when I was young, with her. This wholesome all-American movie, which stars Modine, scratched an itch I never knew I had: it filled me with wonder and gave me a thirst for knowledge on the subject that has never quite been slaked. I even sing to my children every night (changing the names to my two-syllable sons, Harry and Charlie) — if you know the film, you’ll understand.
