Twelve Films At Christmas: 4 & 5

Contrasting films. First up one that achieves the rare accolade of four stars (out of four) in my well-thumbed Halliwell's Film Guide.  Made in 1949, Passport to Pimlico is British comic cinema at or near its finest, a gentle riff on post-war privation, pride, vulnerability and parochialism. Watching it again I couldn't help but wonder what Remainers and Leavers might have made of it during the EU referendum. My own conclusion was that it could be most usefully appropriated to the Remain cause. Perhaps as well that nobody thought of it at the time. 8/10.

A considerable contrast is The Hurricane, a 2000 take on the story of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a champion boxer incarcerated for twenty years for murders he did not commit. Apparently some liberty with the truth has been taken in the rendering to the screen, but that cannot stand in the way of the dependably excellent Denzel Washington in the lead. A well-made and moving piece of cinema. 7.5/10.