A charming post WW2 saga of some secrets & a Love Triangle !

Rating: 7/10 (14 July 2019)

It's longish name and presence of Michiel Huisman & the Brit actress Lily James picked my interest and I decided to have a dekho. It's a nice movie no doubt. One of those whom you think Pretty Nice after its over and feel at peace types ðŸ˜Š
Plot is woven around Lily who is some what an established author and is in London in 1946 which is still ravaged under post effects of WW2. For some strange reason she publishes all her books under a male pseudo identity. She is looking for a new home to buy but which ever home she visits, she gets the nightmarish flashback of her parents dying in their house which was bombed. She has a boy friend who is in Army. Most of their meetings happen only in some clubs and parties. After establishing this narrative, the camera pans over to the beautiful English country side to the Island of Guernsey and starts establishing a premise
The flashback starts during German occupation. That's a time when most of the farm produce and livestock and poultry etc is confiscated by the NAZIs to feed their forces. And to escape from the prying eye of NAZI soldiers, few English folk have a secret meeting in their dilapidated country home where they cook pork and have gin along with Potato Pie and generally have a nice time, away from the town & prying eyes of the German soldiers. The NAZIs get a whiff of the act and raid the place to find these Brit folks though they have switched off all the lights and lurching in a corner. Upon confrontation as to what they were doing in the dead of night so far from town, they mutter and make up a story that they have a Literary society and a book club and meet there periodically. The captain asks what's the name of their club and then one thinks for long and comes up with this unusual name - Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society ðŸ˜ƒ Then since they have made up this story, they go on to actually establish this as a book club with Name Plate and the works just in case if NAZIs come looking again and that way they can actually meet too since they have made it public to the Germans now!

The flashback then comes to real time 5 years later to 1946 and now Lily is assigned to write a story on the Literary society in the London Times Literary Section. That's when she gets in touch with Michiel Huisman who is sort of unofficial spokesman to the Society and starts exchanging letters with him, enquiring about the same. They both are nuts over Late 17th century poet Charles Lamb & Jane Austen and that brings them closer. Then one fine day she sets out to Guernsey Island to meet the Literary Society Members and put in place the article post meeting all the members and interacting with them. Every member of Society welcomes her warmly and exchange many notes and treat her like a VIP and give her a tell all kind of run down but also hide few facts from her - so she thinks. To top it they don't want her to publish the article about their Society in London Times at all and refuse to tell her why they feel that way! The REFUSAL OF PERMISSION to her to publish the story and and how she goes about unravelling the reasons and the dark murky past of on goings during German occupation times, makes up the rest of the entire movie and keeps you engrossed till the end!
Photography is excellent and the plot is well woven, thanks to the director Mike Newell who knows his game well and has proved so already in 4 Wedding and Funeral & Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, hence needs no introduction ðŸ˜Š The British country side is made look more beautiful and quaint N charming thanks to brilliant camera work. The script is neat and editing is slick too. Over all a 7 on 10 easily !!