Benediction 2021
Blessing delves into the turbulent life of WWI poet Siegfried Sassoon through the eyes of master director Terence Davies, known for his poetic cinema. Sassoon, who fought against German forces in the First World War, was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery in surviving the horrors of war, but when he returned from the front, he was a complex man who loudly criticized his government’s decision to continue the war. As an anti-war war hero, he tried to come to terms with his homosexuality while trying to find his salvation in marriage and religion. As a man in search of self-acceptance and peace in a shattered world, Sassoon’s story remains as relevant today as it was in his lifetime.
