Boorman's memoir of growing up in suburban London during the Blitz is
surprisingly joyful, not unlike Ziad Doueiri's West Beirut. For Bill
(Rice-Edwards, playing a character based closely on the director),
the Second World War is a source of freedom, shutting down his school,
and turning his city into a weird alien landscape, open to be explored by
the gangs of like-minded kids on the rampage. Even the German bombs seem
like the best firework show a boy could have. It's entertaining and
touching stuff, but undermined by the absence of any sense of danger.
