Movies - Another Country

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	Movies - Another Country

Another Country is a play by Julian Mitchell loosely based upon the life of the spy Guy Burgess, called Guy Bennett in the play, examining the effect that his homosexuality and his exposure to Marxism have on him and the hypocrisy and snobbery of the British public school system.

The original 1981 production at the Greenwich Theatre in south-east London featured Rupert Everett as Guy. Upon transfer to the West End in March 1982, the production initially also featured Kenneth Branagh as Tommy Judd. Daniel Day-Lewis took over the role of Guy in late 1982 and was succeeded in the role by Colin Firth in early 1983, by which time James Newall was appearing as Tommy. The play won the Society of West End Theatre Awards honour as Play of the Year in 1982.

In 1984, the play was adapted into a movie directed by Marek Kanievska and starring Rupert Everett as Guy along with Firth as Judd. Also starring are Michael Jenn (Barclay), Robert Addie (Delahay), Rupert Wainwright (Donald Devenish), Tristan Oliver (Fowler), Cary Elwes (James Harcourt), Piers Flint-Shipman (Menzies) and Anna Massey (Imogen Bennett). Also present in three scenes as an extra without any dialogue is Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, Diana, Princess of Wales's younger brother.

The setting is an 1930s Eton-esque public school, where Guy Bennett and Tommy Judd are friends because they are both outsiders in their own ways. Bennett is openly homosexual, while Judd is a Marxist.

One day a homosexual scandal involving Martineau (Philip Dupuy) and a boy from another house gives house captain Fowler a welcome reason to scheme against Bennett to keep him from becoming a God, one of the elite pupils of the school. Fortunately for Fowler, he is able to intercept a love letter from Bennett to James Harcourt. Bennett agrees to be punished so as not to compromise Harcourt. (On an earlier occasion he had simply blackmailed the other Gods for their own "experiences" with him.)

Meanwhile, Judd is reluctant to become a Prefect himself, since he feels that he cannot endorse a "system of oppression" like this. He eventually agrees to become a prefect in order to prevent Fowler from becoming Head of House. This never comes about, however, because Devenish agrees to stay at school and become a prefect if he is nominated to become a god instead of Bennett.

Devastated at the loss of his cherished dream of becoming a god Bennett comes to realize that the British class system strongly relies on outward appearance and that to be openly homosexual is a severe hindrance to a career as a diplomat. The epilogue of the movie states that he emigrated to Russia later in his life, after having been a spy for the Soviet Union.

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