The Choral: this moving first world war film reveals the power of music to transcend despair

The Choral: this moving first world war film reveals the power of music to transcend despair

Set in the Oxfordshire village of Ramsden in 1916, The Choral inhabits a world where the war is distant – yet its shadow lies over every street. Many of the young men are gone to the front, their names echoing through the church and village hall. Those left behind hover between waiting and pretending that life continues as before. The film reunites Alan Bennett’s pen and Nicholas Hytner’s direction for their fourth film together (The Madness of …