Director Michael Winterbottom
Cast Jamal Udin Torabi, Enayatullah
The first of three films by the prolific Michael Winterbottom on this list, ‘In This World’ is the best example of the director’s urge to explore contemporary issues on screen and to employ cinema as a sideways view on current affairs. This, ‘Welcome to Sarajevo’, ‘Road to Guantanamo’ and 'A Mighty Heart' were all films discussed on news pages as well as in arts reviews. ‘In This World’ is admirable as a feat: Winterbottom cast two Afghan refugees in Pakistan and with a small crew shooting on digital cameras took them on a journey west over land, through Iran, Turkey and Europe, eventually arriving in London. At a time of headlines about immigration and political trouble in Afghanistan, the effect was to offer an alternative spin on the news and to do it in a manner that made clear the often terrible realities of being a refugee. DC
Other than location and accent, what signatures mark British cinema? Honestly, it’s hard to peg, if only because the UK movies industry hardly seems limited in the stories it tells and the cinematic experiences it puts onscreen. Want a sweeping, heart-swelling epic? Explore the films of David Lean or Powell and Pressburger. Prefer a smaller scale, more intimate drama? Try Joanna Hogg or Shane Meadows. Thrillers? Romantic period pieces? Sci-fi? Drug movies? You can find them, all with a specific, if sometimes intangible, English slant.
To put together this list of the best British movies of all-time, we polled over 150 actors, directors, writers, producers, critics and industry heavyweights, from the likes of Wes Anderson, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach, Sam Mendes and Terence Davies, David Morrissey, Sally Hawkins and Thandie Newton. The results are as diverse as the country itself. Here are the 100 greatest British films ever made.
Written by Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, David Jenkins, Derek Adams, Geoff Andrew, Adam Lee Davies, Paul Fairclough, Wally Hammond, Alim Kheraj, Matthew Singer & Phil de Semlyen
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