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Emma Rice on A Matter of Life and Death

A Matter of Life and Death is a vintage film about war.

Its war is a war of heroes and of bravery and of the stiff upper lip. But, when you get to the heart of it, below the layers of politics and posturing, war is about luck. The luck of where you were born, what time you lived in and of course whether you killed, or were killed. The outcome of every sort hung on a mind-bending, heart-wrenching flip of a coin. And luck doesn't give a toss for who is 'good' or 'bad' or who finds themselves drunk with love, War is a tsunami of terror taking whichever poor sods happens to be in its path.

But the story told in Powell and Pressburger's classic film doesn't punish us with violence. It meets war with a simple love story and gently asks the questions that keep us all awake at night. Will we be able to build a new world today and a better one tomorrow?

On second thoughts, A Matter of Life and Death is a truly modern story of peace.

Emma Rice, Director A Matter of Life and Death