A fey Alan Bennett penned homage to being British in a very British Film: Amusing, touching and well-crafted. I left feeling sad, elated, enriched and uplifted.  Some reviews have been lukewarm- ignore them. This is superb , poignant ,  a valuable history, yet unnervingly modern and of the moment

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The setting is  the summer of 1916, and the industrial town of Ramsden in Yorkshire in World War I. After their choirmaster volunteers to jojn the war effort, the committee of the local choral society reluctantly recruits Dr Guthrie a  gay German-loving, atheist to lead their efforts. Ralph  Fiennes takes up the role with conviction and aplomb. In two hours it is a simple short story- a small mill town’s choral society presents a choral recital. Yet it also embraces a multitude of social issues whilst considering what Britishness and personal identity is about.

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 Ralph Fiennes is totemic as Dr Guthrie,  ably assisted  by  a strong  supporting cast . Bennett’s dialogue  is authentic , engaging and witty. The breadth of the subject matter is so broad however that  we are given snapshots rather than  full portaits of both people, and situations.

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Vocally. Amara Okereke as Salvation Army Mary and Jacob Dudman as Wounded Clyde, excel amidst a choral  ensemble playing out a familiar “sows ear to silk purse” tale.

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Simon Beale as a bumptious Elgar makes a glorious cameo performance. The society desperately tries to establish a programme as they are forced to eschew  Mendelssohn , bch and Beethoven for being  German. Culture wars are not easy.

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 A white feather scene comes and goes the significance  of which probably eludes anyone under the age of forty. The period railway station farewell is superb and juxtaposed with the arrival of war invalids. A one armed casualty asks his ex girlfriend to toss him off on a hillside in an achingly poignant scene.

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Nick Hytner’s direction is fond and brisk.