DVD Review: My Boy Jack

By June L. Apr 22, 2008, 13:23 GMT

Its 1915 and World War I has been declared. Aged only 17 Kiplings son like most of his generation is swept up in the enthusiasm to fight the Germans a mood stoked vigorously by his father. Jack is cripplingly short sighted and the army has rejected him twice rendering him too myopic even for an army suffering thousands of casualties a week and desperate for recruits. Yet Rudyard is undeterred ...more

Based on the true story of John “Jack” Kipling, only son of writer Rudyard Kipling, My Boy Jack is a beautifully constructed and superbly performed drama. 

Author David Haig (who also plays Rudyard Kipling in the production) has created an emotional and very believable account of a family questioning the lines of patriotism, duty and honor, while trying to balance them against the pain of their personal loss.

It has been said that World War I was the last conflict in which an entire generation of young men were anxious and ready to get into the fight.  These youths and very much society as a whole felt that any kind of excuse for not joining the services was somehow shameful, even if the excuse was a medical consideration. 

Jack Kipling certainly felt this way, and was upset when his extreme nearsightedness caused him to be declared unfit to serve.  With his father’s help, he was able to be accepted into the Irish Guards, and then to everyone’s surprise was shipped off immediately to fight in the trenches in France.  Within a few months he was missing in action at the Battle of Loos. 

The Kipling family mounted an all out search for news or information to confirm his capture or his death.  While looking for Jack, Rudyard Kipling who had been a staunch defender of involvement in the conflict, writing glorious verses to encourage patriotic enlistment into the services, had to reassess his feelings.  He had to come to grips with the idea that he might have been responsible for sending his son into oblivion at the tender age of only eighteen.

It is an unwieldy task in any time period to decide the right thing to do or to believe when it involves sending the young into battle.  Rudyard Kipling is not vilified as the cause of his family’s grief. 

His American wife Carrie (Kim Cattrall) is able to assure him that had he not helped Jack, Jack would have still found a way to go to the fighting and the results would have been the same.  On the surface the Kiplings would “manage,” in the stoic way of so many of that time, but one cannot help but wonder if the regrets were simply hidden from view.

No one should worry about the acting career of Daniel Radcliffe after the Harry Potter movies are finished.  He is magnificent as Jack Kipling, giving the role such depth and maturity and performing is so believable a manner as to make us forget that he has ever been anyone else. 

His transformation from an idealistic determined boy to the consummate leader of men is expertly handled, subtle but yet different enough to be noticeable.  The viewer feels that Jack did develop in just this way, doing his duty and taking care of his men.  He was truly able to make decisions in a chaotic time and give his squadron courage and strength to carry out orders.

My Boy Jack is presented on single disc in widescreen format with a running time of 120 minutes.  Special features include deleted scenes, and an interview with David Haig, Daniel Radcliffe and Kim Cattrall, which adds even more by way of history and illumination to this fine production.

This was a difficult drama to watch, first knowing the history and outcome of the Kiplings, and secondly because of correlations to present day conflict and awareness of many families that now have missing members. 

My Boy Jack is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.