Allelujah (12A)

A community hospital in Yorkshire affectionately known as the Beth is threatened with closure. The chairman of the hospital trust invites a director and cameraman to spend time on the Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield geriatric wards, interviewing residents who will be forced to transfer to a soulless custom-built facility in the event of the Beth's demise. The film crew liaises with no-nonsense ward sister Gilpin and Dr Valentine to draw attention to the hospital's plight.

LondonNet Film Review

Allelujah (12A) Film Review from LondonNet

In 2018, the Bridge Theatre in London staged Allelujah, Alan Bennett’s bittersweet anthem to the National Health Service set on the geriatric ward of a beloved community hospital in Yorkshire under threat of closure. Magical flourishes that soared on stage, including a chorus of patients performing heartfelt renditions of Little Richard’s Good Golly, Miss Molly and Cliff Richard’s Congratulations, have been surgically removed by screenwriter Heidi Thomas from an entertaining and moving film adaptation that acknowledges the devastating impact of coronavirus on the NHS front line in a succinct and quietly powerful coda…

The play’s narrative curveball, neatly dispensed at the end of Act One as a mood shift for the audience, diminishes in translation to the screen but still induces an icy shiver of discomfort. Opposing attitudes to care and support for the elderly are encapsulated in an early scene, seen through the eyes of a hard-working and effusive doctor born in India, who is culturally hard-wired to respect his elders. “I like old people,” he affirms without irony. “Even old people don’t like old people,” curtly remarks a patient’s son. Allelujah sermonises proudly and unreservedly on the side of the caregivers.

Director Richard Eyre’s film strolls down the corridors of a fictional hospital affectionately known as the Beth, short for Bethlehem, so-called because when the facility first opened in the 18th century, there was always room for anyone in need of care. The chairman of the hospital trust (Vincent Franklin) invites a two-man documentary crew onto the Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield geriatric wards to interview residents who will be forced to transfer to a soulless custom-built facility in Tadcaster in the event of the Beth’s demise. The visiting director and cameraman liaise with no-nonsense ward sister Gilpin (Jennifer Saunders) and Dr Valentine (Bally Gill) to capture fly-on-the-wall footage of former schoolmaster Ambrose (Derek Jacobi) and retired librarian Mary (Judi Dench).

Meanwhile, management consultant Colin Colman (Russell Tovey), whose cantankerous father Joe (David Bradley) is a resident of the Beth, arrives from London to finalise his recommendations to the minister who will ultimately decide the fate of patients and staff. Tension crackles between father and son. Joe is a former miner and vociferously disapproves of Colin’s openly gay lifestyle far removed from his northern roots. Their intergenerational tug of war echoes deep-rooted divisions within the Beth and the wider, target-driven NHS.

Allelujah prescribes a full dose of Bennett’s earthy humour, generously distributed among an impressive ensemble cast. Gill radiates compassion and understanding, strengthening the film’s emotional pulse, while Saunders exercises her dramatic range beyond the expertly timed deadpan one-liners. Some of the script’s incisions fail to cut to the bone but overall, Eyre’s picture is in rude health.

– Sarah Lee