Spitfire (2018)

Spitfire: Inspiration of a Nation is a documentary film about the famous fighter plane and its role during the Battle of Britain. Here is some basic information about this film which premiered in 2018:

** Directors: David Fairhead and Ant Palmer

** Narrator: Charles Dance

** Run time: 95 minutes

Several persons were interviewed for the film, including the following:

** Mary Ellis (1917-2018)

** Geoffrey “Geoff” Wellum (1921-2018)

MARY ELLIS was one of the female pilots who flew new Spitfires - and many other warplanes - from the factory to a military airbase during the war. She was a member of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA).

GEOFFREY WELLUM was a Spitfire pilot during the war. He was only 18 years old when he joined the RAF in May 1940, shortly before the Battle of Britain began. He was a member of Squadron 92.

What do reviewers say about this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 76 per cent, which corresponds to (almost) four stars on Amazon. On Amazon UK there are more than 100 reviews of this product. The average rating is 4.7 stars.

If you ask me, the latter rating is too high, while the former rating is quite appropriate. Why? Because this film has a flaw:

It is not always easy to hear what is being said. The words of the person who is speaking are often overwhelmed by background music or noise from an airplane or both.

When an airplane appears on the screen, I expect to hear some noise. There may also be some music. Nobody should talk during such a scene, because the words may well be drowned out by the noise.

When a person is speaking, there should be no music and certainly no noise in the background. Unfortunately, this simple rule is not followed in this case.

Subtitles might have helped with this problem, but unfortunately, there are no subtitles available for this film. Subtitles are absolutely essential for a viewer who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, but even a person who has good ears will have trouble with some scenes in this film.

I like this film about the Spitfire and I want to give it a good rating, but as you can see, there is a flaw, which cannot be ignored; which cannot be overlooked. I have to remove one star because of this flaw. Therefore I think it deserves a rating of four stars.

PS # 1. For more information, see the following books:

** First Light by Geoffrey “Geoff” Wellum (2002)

** Spitfire Women of World War II by Giles Whittell (2007, 2008)

** Spitfire Girl: My Life in the Sky by Jackie Moggridge (2014)

** A Spitfire Girl by Mary Ellis (as told to Melody Foreman) (2016)

PS # 2. For more information, see the following items:

** First Light (2010) – a movie based on Geoffrey Wellum’s book

** Spitfire Sisters (2010) – a documentary film about the female pilots who flew for the British ATA (“attagirls”)

** Hurricane (2018) – a movie about the Polish pilots who joined the RAF during the war and fought in the Battle of Britain

*****