Whether it's experiencing a major life event, a personal tragedy, or a war, the prevailing

wisdom is that time grants the perspective necessary to process these moments in a healthy way.

It's why we teach small children to take a deep breath before reacting to playground

conflicts. It's why meditation is so O-Korant. And it's why generally war films are made after the wars they're about

have concluded. Which brings us two in which we serve, a film about World War II made during

World War II and in fact made only around its halfway point.

A moment in time when propaganda generally was at its saturation point and the movie consuming public of Great Britain could really use a boost of morale.

Now if you can, try to imagine living in a moment when the outcome of the world's fight against fascism was very much in doubt.

Now write and direct a film about that, while at the same time not predicting the outcome.

It's kind of like when sports writers for newspapers

used to have to write about the endings of extra-ending baseball games before the papers

went to print. That's a big swing for a director, slash writer, slash producer,

slash star, Noel Coward to take.

Maybe, instead of making bold predictions,

it's because the story remains modest in scope. This is the story of a ship. The ship is the HMS Torin and that ship is sunk early in the film

as the crew clings to a life raft what follows or flashbacks which construct the timeline leading to their eventual fate.

We get to know the crew and their families well, and especially their commanding officer, Captain Kinross.

No one is particularly exceptional.

These are normal people in extraordinary times fighting

an enemy we don't really even see.

Because demonizing the enemy isn't the point of this film.

Rather, it's about getting to know a way of life that would be lost

...