Wondrous Oblivion (2004)

Touches You

Purely Joyful Movie!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Some good people in it.There is hope out there, somewhere.....I remember Dennis from Cider House Rules, but I don't think I've seen him elsewhere? Cricket doesn't have the movies made about it, like Baseball, or American Football (or even soccer). There were some feature length films made back in the 1950's, I think, but nothing since..... I wonder why that is? Maybe something to do with the English themselves and how they see Sport? Maybe.......... but Australians, don't see Sport in a similar way at all........... they're fiercely competitive, about ANY sport, and they don't make Sporting films either..... Any ideas out there?

I hadn't been back to this site since I posted my original comment, which was a while ago. Now I return and find my post has been removed and IMDb didn't even bother to notify me.No doubt my comment was "flagged" as "inappropriate" or somesuch. If so, then what nonsense. It's clear that the pompous people using terms such as "narrow-minded" and "bigoted" are afflicted with these traits themselves. It seems that an already near-complete monopoly of the old media by the political "left" is not enough, they have to censor the internet as well.No matter. I'm experience with left-wing hypocrisy and the fact that they are guilty of what they accuse; also that they don't have the self-awareness to realise this about themselves - or perhaps they're just arrogant.If my initial comment on this film was removed due to anyone labelling it "racist" than that's not only pathetic but the opposite of the truth - my comments were ANTI-racist as I was criticising the constant depiction of white people and only white people as "evil racists". It's racial stigmatisation. Are the worlds' white peoples supposed to meekly accept being constantly singled out for demonisation by Big Media? Apparently so.On a final note, the left's media monopoly and active censorship is not only hypocrisy but an admission of failure. Failure to hold audience interest by merit and an admission that the (potential and suppressed) competition is better.0/1? I bet the user who did that is the one who reported my initial comment and it didn't take me long to work out the why and who. All I'll say at this juncture is that is typical of your kind. How the world was conned by the left's "free speech/expression" stance in the 1960's. Now they are in charge and applying the very thing they feigned to protest against.

"Wondrous Oblivion" is a film that has as its motive one of the most boring sports out there (at least for those who don't play it) – cricket. Thankfully, Paul Morrison's second feature, after the award winning "Solomon and Gaenor" (1999), is not about cricket at all.We are given a coming of age story of a Jewish boy, David (Sam Smith), born in the family of two Holocaust survivors in the 1950s England: Victor (Stanley Townsend), a Polish émigré, and a very young Ruth (Emily Woof), coming from Germany. The boy has an empowering passion for cricket, obvious from his massive card collection of cricket celebrities. However, he is totally rubbish at it. His destiny is to change when a Jamaican émigré family comes next door, and sets up an improvised cricket court. Dennis Samuels (Delroy Lindo) teaches the boy the craftsmanship of the sport, and becomes a close friend of David.All seems a very familiar bad-sportsman-turns-great story, but Morrison's script is ingenious enough not to fall in the stereotypical Hollywood film-making. The boy doesn't end up the great sportsman that we all wish him to be, but learns something greater, something more important in the process. And this is the 'wondrous oblivion' the author intended to deliver… The 1960s as a whole becomes a decade of surprising changes and animosity, and yet all characters seem to remain static in their conception of their beliefs.This is a good film, and it is worth seeing for the original cinematography and a moving performance from Emily Woof ("Passion", "The Full Monty"), which steals the whole film. Watch out for the dance scene with Lindo, which is dominated both by passion, and religious taboos, and it is surprisingly sexy. The only three problems in the movie are the simplicity with each the Holocaust theme is being treated, the poor knowledge of Jewish faith, as well as the stereotypical two-dimensionality of the entire supporting cast. But this applies only for a picky audience."Wondrous Oblivion" is one of those films that one cannot dislike, or at least loathe. Pacing, beautiful, and quite funny really.

I've not a lot to add to what's already been said (it's nice how movies like this attract intelligent and insightful comments). I didn't think it owed a lot to `Billy Elliot' but there certainly parallels with `Bend it Like Beckham' - sport as a way to acceptance in a new society. The wrinkle here is that young David Wiseman has desire, but no apparent talent. The suspension of our disbelief is severely strained when his new West Indian neighbour Dennis coaches him to competence in his tiny back yard. As coach Ian Holm put it to aspiring Olympian Ben Cross in `Chariots of Fire' `an athlete does not find a coach, the coach finds the athlete'. Well, I suppose Dennis must have seen something in David. And David certainly has dreams of success via his talking cricket card collection. Otherwise this is a perfectly delightful movie about growing up and fitting in. Even David's mother's flirtation with Dennis does not end in disaster. The reactionaries fail to drive away the newcomers and it doesn't even rain at the final cricket match (this can't be England!). Gary Sobers and Frank Worrall (played by actors) turn up. Pretty fanciful but utterly charming.