At first, there is a bit of a familiar taste to this true-life wartime tale. But it becomes something tougher. The film is, moreover, an interesting reminder of something that the British prefer to overlook assomething it doesn’t quite fit into the Churchillian narrative of never surrendering: the Nazi occupation of British territory – the Channel Islands. It wasn’t just the French who suffered the misery of occupation, and the sordid nightmare of people pursuing petty grudges with anonymous letters to the Nazi authorities. Jenny Seagrove gives a fierce and capable performance as Louisa Gould, a Jersey woman who hid a fugitive Russian slave-worker, nicknamed Bill (Julian Kostov). John Hannah, Nicholas Farrell and – unexpectedly – Ronan Keating take supporting roles as islanders. The film persuasively suggests that Louisa shelters Bill as a quasi-son figure, after her own son is killed in the war. There are some almost outrageously contrived suspense moments as Louisa takes mad risks, letting Bill go for walks and bike rides into town, where German soldiers are to be found. Yet truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. A decent, heartfelt, robustly presented drama.
