Hope and Glory

Director John Boorman pulled a few stylistic pages from Chabrol and Fellini for the intensely autobiographical Hope and Glory. The film is set in London during World War II; we see all through the eyes of Boorman's alter ego, 9-year-old Billy (Sebastian Rice-Edwards). Though surrounded by the horror and tragedy of the war, Billy adopts a child's objectivity, viewing the passing parade in wonder rather than terror. After his family's home is destroyed, Billy is given a different perspective on life when he is evacuated to his grandfather's idyllic country home. Sarah Miles co-stars in Hope and Glory as Billy's mother, while director Boorman's son Charlie portrays a German paratrooper in the now-famous scene where dozens of London women converge to cut precious chunks of silk from the German boy's parachute.