Friend or Foe
(1982)

Country: UK

Genre: Children's, Drama

Synopsis

Two London boys are evacuated to the country during World War II. One of them, David, hates the Germans because his father has recently been killed in the war. But the simplistic ideas both boys have of friend and foe are challenged when David is rescued from drowning by a downed German fighter pilot hiding out in the woods...

Notes

• Produced by the Children's Film Foundation
• Based on the 1977 children's novel of the same name by English author Michael Morpurgo (b. 1943)
• Highly regarded by critics, this film was shown twice to great acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival in February 1982, won the Evening Standard award for Best Screenplay of 1982, and was judged the World's Best Children's Feature for 1982 in the Los Angeles Film Festival. However, in the wake of the collapse of the children's matinee circuit in the UK, and with the CFF suffering financial difficulties, few kids had the opportunity to see this feature, leading The Sunday Times reviewer David Hughes to complain in October 1983 that "It [the film] has been shown once here; in August on a Saturday morning in Plymouth... The film is quite English, jerkingly moving, universal; civilised to the fingertips, yet as imaginative as a bright child. Won't someone please show it?" In March 2020, the film was included on the Region 2 DVD release "Children's Film Foundation, Bumper Box Volume 2" (Amazon UK link at top right of this page).