Educating Rita
The movie of Educating Rita, unlike the original stage play, ventures beyond the confines of the tutor’s university room (with Dublin doubling as Liverpool ); but it still reminds you more of a theatrical piece than a big screen production. And there is something about it that harks back to films of the 1960s like A Taste of Honey and The Family Way, not in itself a bad thing. It is engaged cinema, a snapshot of the class system, the failings of education in Britain, and the death of ideals; a very political piece – but still great fun thanks to the two leads, Julie Walters and Michael Caine. It is amazing to note how often Michael Caine features in the best British movies, decade after decade. Does he choose parts well, or make them what they become? By 1983 he had moved into more cerebral parts like this, making what could be a hackneyed character of a drunken and cynical academic a sympathetic one; we are delighted that in the end he is heading for Australia and the chance of change. And Walters, previously thought of as ‘just’ a comedienne, stunned and delighted many with her range, bearing comparison with co-star Maureen Lipman . Both Caine and Walters were Oscar nominated, but neither won awards (the only American in the Leading Actor category stuffed with Brits that year took the gong, surprising nobody). Nor did Willy Russell for his clever adaptation of his own stage play.
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Current top 10
1: Oliver!
2: Zulu
3: The Railway Children
4: The Italian Job
5: Life of Brian
6: Trainspotting
7: The Third Man
8: The 39 Steps
9: The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
10: Local Hero
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