Hedd Wyn

Plot synopsis:
As the camera pans over the intricate carving on the infamous "Black Chair", the voice of the Archdruid Dyfed is heard vainly summoning the poet who signs his work with the nom de plume "Fleur-de-lis" to stand and be chaired. The film then flashes back to 1913.
As a farmer's son in the village of Trawsfynydd, Ellis Humphrey Evans composes poetry for local eisteddfodau under the bardic name Hedd Wyn ("Blessed Peace"). A friend and student minister, William Morris (Arwel Gruffydd), advises Ellis that his verse possesses a passion which better educated poets lack. Therefore, with more work and less womanizing, Ellis could win the National Eisteddfod. Ellis smiles and quips, "Where do you think all that passion comes from?" Meanwhile, international tensions rise and the British Army installs an artillery range on a local hillside, much to Ellis' annoyance.
In August 1914, Britain declares war on the German Empire. Soon afterwards, at a gathering in the village street, an Anglican minister gives a rousing sermon which demands immediate enlistment. Disgusted, William Morris calls the Anglican minister "a disgrace to his calling", and tells those nearby not to be deceived. In spite of this, several young men from Trawsfynydd join the British Army, including Ellis' friend Griff Jones (Gruffudd Aled).
Despite mounting pressure, Ellis refuses to enlist and says that he doesn't think he can kill anyone. As a result, Ellis' fiancée, Lizzie Roberts (Sue Roderick), accuses him of being "afraid of becoming a man". At a fair, Ellis attempts to mend his relationship with Lizzie, only to find that she has taken up with an English soldier. "It is nothing personal," she says coldly, "I just don't like your clothes." Later, in the village pub, Ellis and Moi Davies (Emlyn Gomer) are giving Griff, who is now in uniform, a send-off. As fellow villagers sing the recruiting song "Your King and Country Want You" in their honor, Lizzie appears in the pub's doorway. Ellis spots her and begins to loudly sing "Myfanwy", a song with implications of female betrayal. Sensing Lizzie's distress, her new beau punches Ellis in the face, screaming, "You're upsetting the lady! Welsh bastard!"
On a train, Ellis encounters Jini Owen (Judith Humphreys), a young woman who admires his poetry. Noticing her interest in him, Ellis asks for Jini's address and sends her a letter. Soon the two are deeply in love. Simultaneously, Ellis develops a close friendship with Mary Catherine Hughes (Nia Dryhurst), the young woman who is his sister's teacher. He explains to her that, whenever a poem is lacking, he will cast it into the river, and that it will always return to him stronger. On a railway journey with Jini, Ellis encounters two hideously disfigured war veterans. Despite his sympathy for their plight, the soldiers accuse Ellis of cowardice for remaining a civilian. As he and Jini depart, they threaten to mail him a white feather. Ellis quips, "You don't have any wings, let alone feathers."
Ultimately, Lizzie returns to the village with tuberculosis. After a church service, she informs Ellis that he was right about the war, which is a curse. Later, as Lizzie lies dying, Ellis visits her sickbed and promises to bring her to the National Eisteddfod. Soon afterwards, an official of the draft board arrives at the family farm and takes down the names of Ellis and his brother Bob (Ceri Cunnington), despite the resistance of Ellis' mother (Catrin Fychan). As a result, the Crown informs the Evans family that one of their sons must join the British Army.
Although 17-year-old Bob longs to enlist instead, Ellis refuses to permit this. Horrified of losing him, Jini pleads with Ellis to let Bob enlist in his place. Enraged, Ellis says that, if Bob were injured or killed, he could never live with himself. With Jini seeing him off, Ellis departs by train to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in Liverpool. Despite the insults showered on them by their English-speaking drill sergeant, Ellis and his fellow Fusiliers continue their training in good spirits and are sent to France. Facing what may be his last chance to win the Eisteddfod, Ellis pleads with his platoon commander to send his awdl Yr Arwr (The Hero) via the Army Postal Service. The young officer, who is unable to read Welsh, at first refuses, suspecting the poem to be a coded message to the Germans. Eventually he relents, mails Ellis' submission, and praises him as "The Armageddon Poet".
On 31 July 1917, the Fusiliers go over the top and into the Battle of Passchendaele. Crawling through swampy shell holes filled with corpses, Ellis witnesses his fellow soldiers being shot and blown to pieces around him. At last, he is wounded by shrapnel and crumples to the ground. After hours of lying in no man's land, Ellis is evacuated to an aid post, where he succumbs from his injuries. His devastated parents receive a telegram with news of Ellis' death. Jini weeps inconsolably as she reads Ellis' last letter, in which her beloved proposed marriage in a poem. Mary Catherine, in a last tribute to her friend, casts the manuscript of Ellis' poem Rhyfel (War) into the river.
The Evans family receives another telegram which announces that Ellis' submission has won the National Eisteddfod. To the sound of R. Williams Parry's Englynion coffa Hedd Wyn (Englynion in memory of Hedd Wyn), the chair which Ellis has dreamed of all his life is delivered to his parents' farmhouse, robed in black.

Tags: anti war, murder, flashback

Review:
The valiant preservation of Welsh language and culture.
The Welsh have been valiantly preserving and promoting their beleaguered language and culture.
In recent years, the Welsh film industry blossomed, with such inventive slices-of-life as LEAVING LENIN (1993), which was filmed in St. Petersburg, shown at international film festivals and garnered considerable interest and accolades.
It showed to the world that the Welsh language is very much alive.HEDD WYN is another example, as it depicts the life and death of one of Wales' greatest poets.
Ellis Evans (Huw Garmon), under the pen name ÒHedd WynÓ writes thoughtful, spare verse which wins kudos from his countrymen.
The son of a farmer, he isn't as educated as some bards, but his kind and genuine nature fuels his talent.The film evinces his pastoral existence in his native village, his richly nuanced relationships with three different women, his reluctant transformation into a soldier, and his eventual sacrifice in World War I.
More a biopic than an exploration of poetic inspiration, the film nonetheless has its lyrical moments, and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar..
Welsh magic.
This Welsh-language film directed by Paul Turner is based on the true story of Ellis Evans - a young poet living in North Wales at the start of WW1.
Huw Garmon is excellent as Evans - the young lover; the poet; the farm boy and, ultimately, as a young soldier sent to his death at the Somme.
Evans competes in the National Eisteddfod - a cultural competition which includes the awarding of a Bardic chair to the winner of the poetry competition but, before the winner is announced Evans, whose bardic name was Hedd Wyn, is sent to the front.
This film captures perfectly the Welsh traditions bound up with the Chapel and the family.
It also shows vividly the young lives wasted in the conflict.
The countryside of North Wales is shown in glorious colour,contrasting with the grey mud of the trenches.
There is one scene where the Major is leading his troops down a country road.
As they approach the camera the scene shifts to the side of the road and one sees the faces of these boys who are marching off to what we now know was almost certain death.
The troops were played by young army cadets and it helps us to remember that few of those who died were old men - they were young boys - "they shall not grow old as we that are left grow old".
The final scene where the Bardic chair is brought, swathed in black, to the Evans' farmhouse is so moving.
The parents, grieving for their lost son, accept it with dignity knowing that he will never see his prize.
A beautifully acted, directed and photographed film worthy of its Oscar nomination..
What a fantastic film.....
As someone who lives only some 10 miles away, and known the story so well, it was such a pleasure to watch the film.It showed how pointless war is.
I think that what Ellis did, go and join up, so to save his younger brother from doing so, is so brave.
Such acts you wouldn't expect to see today in society.I have seen this film many times and it's just as good each time around.
It will make any person cry at the end.One interesting thing, in the film Huw Garmon (Ellis Evans) courts Sue Rodderick (Lizzie Robers), but in a soap shown here in Wales, Sue plays Huw's his mother!!!.
mae hyn yn drawiadol*.
Wales is the part of the United Kingdom about which we don't hear much, and that's what makes Paul Turner's "Hedd Wyn" all the more enjoyable.
I had never heard of the title poet until watching it.
Ellis Evans proudly wrote in his native language and took as his pseudonym Hedd Wyn, the Welsh words for "blessed peace".
But with the arrival of World War I, the English drafted him and sent him to his doom.The movie is both an indictment of war and of England's domination of Wales.
There can be no doubt that the English looked down on the Welsh just as they did the Scots and the Irish, and therefore had no qualms about sending them into harm's way.
Evans was disgusted with the jingoism pushed by London, but even he got thrown into the war.The movie's most impressive quality is of course its use of Welsh.
For all that I know, it might be the only movie filmed mainly in Welsh, a language that has some of the most interesting spellings of all.
It's just a really good movie.
Rwy'n argymell y ffilm (Welsh for "I recommend the movie").*That's Welsh for "this is impressive"..
Truly a lovely film!.
This story about the tragic life of the beloved Welsh poet Ellis Evans compares favourably with "All Quiet on the Western Front".
One comes away from this film convinced of the hopelessness of war and yet, bolstered by the knowledge that for all our general savagery we humans can now and again produce poetry of sublime proportions..
Sentimental in the grand old Welsh tradition.
My mother and I sobbed all the way through the second half of this film.
To be fair, it can only be properly appreciated if you speak Welsh; the poetry loses everything in translation.
It does become pretty mawkish at times but as a true Welsh woman I'm a no-holds-barred sentimentalist and I fell for it hook line and sinker..
Sadness and beauty combined.
I have given this film a 9.
Being a Welshman I already knew the story of Hedd Wyn and I was very impressed with how this piece of Welsh history was put to film.Although the film does loose something in translation, overall I was quite impressed at the skill of the translators in managing to convey at least a little bit of this man's brilliance as a bard.The sense of loss that this film conveys is very strong and when watching this film and pondering over the life of Hedd Wyn, I can't help thinking that somewhere in the world today many more valuable lives are being lost due to needless conflict..
You don't have to be Welsh to appreciate this film....
I'm not Welsh, although my father is, and I don't speak the language.
It doesn't matter.
The thrust of this film is that the hero sacrifices himself, both for his brother, and for his country, to go and fight, despite stating that he doesn't think that he can kill his fellow men.
Along the way he comes across bigotry and prejudice; the persecution of his Welshness in the film is just as relevant to our society now, regardless of what culture or language is being mocked and derided.
It seems that in early C.20 Britain we were suspicious of a man because he spoke a different language, so he might be a spy.
Now we think he might be a terrorist.
I guess we don't learn a lot.The unity and bonding of the young soldiers being sent to fight in what we all know was a horrendous and particularly pointless war is touching, and the pointlessness of the millions of deaths of young men is made abundantly clear.
A superb film.
I watched it with my mother, and we cried too..
the pub scenes.
the pub scenes were filmed in a former mental hospital outside Ruthin in north wales i was an extra for the two days the crew were there.
the first day i was a soldier playing cards behind the star and his friend and the next day i was a "civvie"in a grey tweed jacket.
the beer was real on both days but the "whisky" was ginger beer,one soldiers glass had a hole in the bottom so his drink went down quicker than it should i don,t think it shows on screen.when the scene starts the words "jammie bastard" are heard this refers to me winning the cards the sound man queried the remark but the director said it was OK,the soldier who said it really had a better hand than me