A Matter of Life and Death

A collision of reality and romance

The greatest English filmmakers of all time are Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the Archers. Largely, Powell directed and Pressburger wrote the scripts. Of course, Pressburger was a Hungarian émigré. Which is very English.

Here’s one of my favourite scenes from my all time favourite film (not movie). A film that not only defines England for me, but also happens to be the greatest film of all time.

David Niven, the quintessential English gentleman actor, is playing Squadron Leader Peter D. Carter who has bailed out of his crippled plane without a parachute over the English Channel. He awakes, believing he is in Heaven.

England for me is the possibility that you may be somewhere more than just a country. England is a place where man does not control the forces of nature but is subjugant to their vagaries. England to me is not taking life for granted, but engaging with wonder. England is a dedication to duty, a suspension of belief, and a collision of reality and romance.