TV post: My Boy Jack
A 2007 telemovie based on a play, based on the true story of Rudyard Kipling’s family, particularly his son Jack, who fought in the first world war. Rudyard Kipling was a famous and well-established English poet by the outbreak of war, and along with various others, like Thomas Hardy, was involved in pro-war writing and poetry early in the war. His son Jack had very poor eyesight. Following the outbreak of war, he set his heart on a commission in an infantry regiment, and after failing a succession of medicals, Rudyard Kipling used his influence to get him a commission in the Irish Guards. John Kipling shipped out to France before his eighteenth birthday - he had to have permission from his parents to go. The day after his eighteenth birthday, he goes missing at the Battle of Loos.
Cut for length, not spoilers.
David Haig, who wrote the play and played Rudyard Kipling in the stage show, reprises the role. Kim Cattrall and Carey Mulligan play Kipling’s wife and daughter. Dan Radcliffe plays Jack Kipling. I think Radcliffe has better and worse days for acting, and this was one of his better days. He looks very young and very small, particularly during the medical examination scenes. The scenes with him and his platoon are fascinating - Radcliffe was perfectly cast for really demonstrating the boy-officers fresh from public school.
The story goes fairly fast - several years are passed through quite quickly once Jack has gone missing. There’s some attempt to display the agony and uncertainty of the family, but in the end this period seems fairly brief. The film itself was fairly short, and I think it could have benefited from drawing out this section. I understand that in the play this section extends over Acts 2 and 3; Act 3 was omitted from the adaptation. The experience of the Kiplings was repeated in thousands of families in Britain, France and Germany, but as yet it is the first time I have encountered a work which focuses on this aspect of the war. I think it would have been worth exploring the dimensions of grief over a son who is missing.
The title comes from the Kipling poem, “My Boy Jack”, which is implied to be about his son. However it was originally published with an article about the Battle of Jutland, and may refer to a generic “Jack Tar” (the naval equivalent of Tommy Atkins). The poem makes sense as a mother’s perspective on her son drowned at sea. Still, it makes a poignant capstone to the film and does work in the context that it is employed.
This film is worth seeing, mostly for Radcliffe’s excellent and fascinating performance.
