Bermuda Soldier’s Story Documentary
Acclaimed local filmmaker Lucinda Spurling’s adaptation of a recent book about a Bermuda soldier killed in action just seven months before the end of World War Two is likely to premiere at next year’s Bermuda Documentary Film Festival.
Senator Jonathan Smith published “In The Hour Of Victory” — based on letters his grandfather Major Toby Smith sent to his family during the Second World War [1939-1945] — earlier this year.
“Work on the film ‘In the Hour of Victory’ continues,” said Sen. Smith. “The finished film is expected to be 60 mins in length and will feature archival footage, interviews, narrative as well as some re-enactments in the UK and USA.
“Filming is due to be completed in February and the film is slated to debut at the Bermuda Docs festival here in Bermuda in April, 2012. We are already looking ahead to the Bermuda Film Festival in 2013 and international film festivals between 2012 and 2013.”
The book and the forthcoming film tell the story of Major Smith who was a member of the first contingent of Bermudian troops to travel to the UK in 1940. He was killed in Holland in October, 1944. Sen. Smith has said the 300-plus letters home begin with Major Smith’s voyage to the UK — when the ship carrying Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and Bermuda Militia Artillery troops came close to being torpedoed by a German U-boat — and end just two days before his death leading his men into battle in Holland.
He recently said: “I never knew my grandfather. My father lost his father when he was five years old. I knew when I picked up the very first letter, that there was a story to be told here.
“It’s more than just a soldier writing home to his wife. It’s a really compelling story about courage, commitment and love for his family.”
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