Britannia Hospital
November. 03,1982 RBritannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.
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Reviews
I love this movie so much
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
It's sad to see that there are no directors like Anderson these days. In fact, there never was a director like him and I doubt there ever will be one like him ever.To start, I must warn any potential viewers that this film is a hand full. If you turn your head for more than 2 minutes you might be totally lost. To understand the humor of this film don't expect the kind of humor we find in today's comedy's or satires.There's something genuine about this movie. Anderson has created his own little universe with his Mick Travis Trilogy and expect the unexpected when watching this film.Overall, I say it was a good watch. It certainly intrigued and impressed with it's multiple characters. Mark Hamill has a hilarious part, and so does Malcolm McDowell. It's too bad they weren't in the movie more.Anyone who loves weird movies will have to give this one a watch. It is simply one the best of its breed and will never fail to entertain. It gets slow in some parts but the scenes with McDowell pick the film right back up. His characterization of Travis is just brilliantly funny and odd. The ending scene is as epic and classic as any scene you'll find in cinema.
After I saw during the last week the first ("If...", 1968) and the final ("Britannia Hospital", 1982) films of Lindsay Anderson's satirical Mick Travis trilogy, I realized the whole scope and magnitude of his vision. In his three films ("O Lucky Man", 1973, is a middle chapter), he had covered all aspects, politics, and institutions of British Society from 1968 to 1982 with its complex system of class and caste differences and privileges, including its public schools, its international politics, its law system, and its health care system, and he found out that something was rotten in the British Kingdom. The third and final chapter of the trilogy, takes place almost entirely in the Britannia Hospital, one of the oldest and most respectable English medical centers in London that celebrates its 500th anniversary and expects the Queen Mother herself to attend. But there are many troubles at the hospital that mirror the problems the whole society suffers from and may turn the celebration into a nightmare. Our old friend, Mick "Lucky Man" Travis (Malcolm McDowell) who had become investigative reporter arrives with his crew to cover the celebration but accidentally he becomes a witness and then an unwilling participant in the sinister human experiments that are conducted by Professor Millar. The "mad scientist" had promised to Mick in the previous movie that as a result of the experiment, he would become much better... Well, Mick is just about to find out if that is true.Very clever, very British, filled equally with dry humor and horrifying shocking sequences, "Britannia Hospital" ends the trilogy with the bang. Its final 20 minutes are the combination of the darkest surreal comedy and the serious compelling futuristic satire of the long-lasting power. As for Mick, "Britannia Hospital" left no hopes for another Mick Travis chapter ever. After all, Mick may not be a lucky man but we are the lucky viewers that have been following him on his crazy and unforgettable journey where Lindsay Anderson sent us.
I couldn't decide whether this is a good movie or a bad one, but I don't think it will leave you unshaken. People die in the corridors (probably painfully) because of the staff's neglect, and I remember being very shocked by the sheer callousness of this (but that's satire, after all). But the thing that stayed with me was the experiment in the new wing - creating a new human being from parts. Even though it has been years since I saw the film, just writing about it makes me feel sick again. The mad doctor's ghoulish interest in his patients was shocking, and the despairing expression on the transplanted head's face was worse - but when the new man finally bit the doctor's hand and the surgery staff literally tore the body's head off to free the doctor was nothing but revolting. It's strong stuff, really strong stuff, and even though I sometimes wish I hadn't seen the movie because of that scene alone, I don't know... it was a learning experience, after all, that was nicely summed up in the final shot of the disembodied brain quoting Shakespeare: when man wants to play god, the result can be indescribable.
Lindsay Anderson was several years ago one of my favourite directors and then, 5 years ago, I thought that this film is possible his best. Since then I saw again Britannia Hospital at least five times - and it didn't worked always - in contrast Anderson's If..., which is better and better with every watching. However, Britannia Hospital is still a very good film, but its content maybe too disturbing for a lot of viewers. I mean, not only its details (for example, eating pieces of brain, by the way, didn't Hannibal - the movie - discover it), but the consequences of the whole film. This film's dark and painful thoughts about mankind and our future are very frightening, because they - if we can face it - almost (or entirely?) the reality. Although Lindsay Anderson's satire is focused on Britannia Hospital, where the most of the plot plays, this parabolic form is about the whole world: from the poor people to the rich, from the caretaker to the mad scientist. Britannia Hospital is full of moments of horror and black comedy (namely its subplot is parody/paraphraze of Frankenstein-story), but its strongest parts are when its laughing (or crying) on the figures of government and other leaders (the master of BH, the main strikers, even the Queen). The solution is Britannia Hospital - in a paradox way - there is no solution for mankind. Maybe the speech of the professor at the end is a little didactic, but at same time quite honest; but not he has the last world in the film. For those who have already seen this film, it is known, what I'm talking about; for those who are going to see BH, let it be a surprise. It's unforgettable, but extremely sad moment: a shocking last shot to Britannia Hospital.