Reuters North American News Service, November 12th, 2007
LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Harry Potter star Daniel
Radcliffe cannot imagine what it was like to live amid the
stench of death in the trenches of World War One -- but he says
his generation should never be allowed to forget.
"I think it is as relevant today as it ever was with young
men all over the world still sacrificing their lives in the name
of war," said the teenage actor critically acclaimed on Monday
for his portrayal of writer Rudyard Kipling's doomed son.
Casting off his teenage wizard's cloak, Radcliffe starred in
"My Boy Jack" which was screened on British television to mark
the annual wartime Remembrance Day and is also the subject of an
exhibition at London's Imperial War Museum.
"Radcliffe created an entirely convincing sense of a young
man trying unconvincinly not to be scared," The Daily Telegraph
said of his performance. "He was well cast," The Independent
critic wrote.
Writing the introduction to the first exhibition ever
dedicated to the young soldier, Radcliffe said "I can't even
begin to imagine what it must have been like in the trenches
living amongst the stench of death and knowing that at any
moment it may be your last."
Rudyard Kipling, whose "Just So Stories" and "The Jungle
Book" have become children's classics, was a fervent
propagandist for the war.
He used his influence to ensure his son was able to sign up
despite being twice rejected for being severely short-sighted.
The film and the exhibition trace Kipling's progression from
gung-ho patriotism to heartbroken disillusionment that ended
with him penning the famous lines:
"If any question why we died
"Tell them, because our fathers lied."
On display in the exhibition is Jack's last letter before
going over the top in 1915 to meet his death at the Battle of
Loos. It was just after his 18th birthday.
In a hastily scrawled message to his parents and sister, he
wrote "Funny to think one will be in the thick of it tomorrow."
"This will be my last letter most likely for some time," he
said. Two days later, he was dead.
Alongside his note are messages of condolence to Rudyard
Kipling from President Theodore Roosevelt and Sherlock Holmes
creator Arthur Conan Doyle who both lost sons in the "war to end
all wars."
