Benediction (2021)

Description

“Benediction” explores the turbulent life of First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon (Peter Capaldi / Jack Lowden). Having survived the horrors of fighting in the First World War, he was decorated for his bravery and became a vocal critic of the government’s continuation of the war when he returned from service. His poetry was inspired by his experiences on the Western Front and he became one of the leading war poets of the era. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London’s literary and stage world, Sassoon embarked on affairs with several notable men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality.
At the same time, broken by the horror of war, his life became a quest for salvation, trying to find it within the conformity of marriage and religion. His is the story of a troubled man in a fractured world, searching for peace and self acceptance, something which speaks as meaningfully to us in the modern world as it did then.