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Allelujah! is a film based on a 2018 Alan Bennett (Talking Heads) play, where Sister Gilpin (Jennifer Saunders – The Stranger) steers the Bethlehem Hospital with a firm hand on the tiller, brilliantly mixing in light and dark from very early on, such as when a patient dies in the night, and is observed, “Didn’t he realise there’s a queue(?)”
The story is one which brings in many characters, but each is given enough room to breathe in order to discover their characters, starting with Julia McKenzie (Gold Digger), who comes to stay as a patient, and clearly suffering from dementia when we first see her, while in another scene, she’s singing beautifully, and we’re told she used to be a concert hall singer. Hence, this echoes what is known in that while a lot of the time, someone in that condition may seem lost and not know where they are, music can be the breakthrough to bring them back.
In a place where the wards have names like Shirley Bassey and Dusty Springfield, Chairman Mr. Salter (Vincent Franklin – Bodyguard) is being interviewed for a film about the care home because it’s being threatened with closure, Dr Valentine (Bally Gill – Sherwood) loves working with old people and wants to do the best for them, Andy (Louis Ashbourne Serkis – No Return) is a sarcastic orderly on work experience, Derek Jacobi (Inside No.9) plays Ambrose, a very exacting English teacher (even to the point of comparing tmesis with another similar word I’ve forgotten – so I hope someone reminds me in the comments below), whose skills have never left him, even though his body is now letting him down, Mary (Judi Dench – Spirited) is trying to adjust to her new life in ‘the Beth’, while Colin (Russell Tovey – Years And Years) is visiting former miner Joe (David Bradley – Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio) in hospital, the latter of whom is very stuck in his ways and constantly snaps at his son because he can’t get over the fact he came out as gay, despite the fact he risks pushing away the only family member he has left.
As such, when someone tells Colin, “Give your Dad my love”, he chirps back, “He never knew what to do with mine(!)”
As an aside, both Tovey and Bradley have been in Doctor Who, Tovey as Midshipman Frame in several episodes between 2007 and 2010, and Bradley as William Hartnell in An Adventure In Space And Time.
Meanwhile, Colin also works in the Department of Health for a Tory minister (Nicholas Burns – Censor), who is hell-bent on closing the place because it’s small-scale and doesn’t make much money, despite providing a high level of care for those who are elderly and vulnerable… and that caring is incompatible with the finances.
Allelujah! is a gripping drama, which is very sweet, and brilliantly written, but then it comes from the pen of national treasure Alan Bennett, so would you expect anything else?
I’ve heard the film described as a “love letter to the NHS”, and I get where they’re coming from, but “love letter to” is such lazy journalism. The same recently happened with Empire Of Light being described as a “love letter to the cinema”.
It certainly touches on that at a particular point – and you’ll know when you see it – but BBC1’s This Is Going To Hurt, with Ben Whishaw, did it so much better and for longer. I highly recommend you watch that, and at the time of writing, it’s also been nominated for three BAFTA TV awards (Best Actor – Ben Whishaw, Best Writer – Adam Kay, and Best Mini-Series).
It was also very busy on the Sunday afternoon (far more so than the empty auditoriums I saw online for Shazam: Fury Of The Gods), yet has largely disappeared from screens in week 2.
Allelujah! is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 99 minutes
Release date: March 17th 2023
Studio: Pathe UK
Format: 2.39:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 8/10
Director: Richard Eyre
Producers: Damian Jones, Kevin Loader
Screenplay: Heidi Thomas
Play: Alan Bennett
Music: George Fenton
Cast:
Sister Gilpin: Jennifer Saunders
Joe Colman: David Bradley
Colin Colman: Russell Tovey
Mary Moss: Judi Dench
Mr. Salter: Vincent Franklin
Dr Valentine: Bally Gill
Ambrose: Derek Jacobi
Nurse Pinkney: Jesse Akele
Andy: Louis Ashbourne Serkis
Mrs. Earnshaw: Lorraine Ashbourne
Mr. Earnshaw: Gerard Horan
Dr. Jess: Jessica Baglow
Opera goer: Ray Burnet
Richard: Paul Butterworth
George: Darren Charman
Kieran: JP Conway
Molly: Eileen Davies
Ruha: Nishu Dikshit
Mavis: Patricia England
Mayor: Minouche Kaftel
Patient: Julia McKenzie
Abdul Kashani: Arian Nik
Patient: Dennis O’Donnell
Lucille: Marlene Sidaway
Gerald: Ross Tomlinson
Police Officer: Alex Williams
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.