The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain

I'm fairly certain my graduate advisor and thesis director recommended The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill But Came Down A Mountain, because at the time I was dabbling in something similar for my thesis screenplay, about a small town with something important to do (so important, in fact, that I don't remember anything else about the idea). 

I dabbled a lot that year, trying to find myself, find my style, tone, etc., and by the end, I'd found very little.  But there's no timetable on finding oneself or one's own voice.

I also recall my undergraduate mentor endorsing this film, specifically pointing to Hugh Grant's trademark hemming and hawing.  Perhaps both deserve credit for pointing me up this, er... hill.

I'd seen the film on shelves, but always passed because, well, this looks like any of a number of Grant's romantic comedies.  I never even read the entire title on the box.  I just saw this as The Englishman something something something something something.

Suffice to say, someone talked sense to me and sent me away to watch the film.  I checked out a copy at Alden Library in Athens, Ohio, where the glorious, full-screen VHS transfer with state-of-the-art, warbling analog 2.0 sound came into my life.

At the time, I didn't care about quality — this was before I'd seen much of DVD.  Most people didn't care about picture quality in the late 1990s, and I'd argue that most people don't care even today.

In grad school, I had other priorities, meaning I only cared about the story here, and why my advisor would advise this film.  I probably had 100 or so VHS tapes at that time, all of which focused on tremendous storytelling (and all of which are long since sold off in favor of shiny DVDs and Blu-Rays).

Once I watched this film, I basically said, "Bloody hell, sod this fecking idea."  (I may have been influenced by the dialogue.)  After scrapping my own idea, I moved on to some other steaming turd of an idea and to another, and another, and another, before finally settling on the pile of cowshit that became my master's thesis.  No, you can't read that.

Sometimes I get an idea, think my idea is good, and then I see a film with a similar idea and I just want to curse.  Not only does the Film That Beat Me To The Punch validate my idea, but also the film rubs salt in an open cliché.  All is not lost, though; I found a film I really enjoy.

This film takes place in Wales, in a town where the local "mountain" is measured and determined, rather semantically, to be a "hill" instead.  Unwilling to take such a shot to local pride, the townsfolk rise up, quite literally, to make their "hill" into a "mountain."  I'm not explaining this very well, and I don't have to — just check out the film.  If you're not smiling with a lump in your throat by the end, then I don't know what to tell you.

Owning this film on DVD seemed logical, not only because you can find a copy for a few dollars, but also that I need to have access to films that make me feel this way, for that day when I want to feel that sort of way again.  I'm not articulate this evening.  I'm hemming and hawing a bit.  Yes.  Right.