An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo – Riverside Studios
Gay men who managed to survive the UK during the ‘80s and ‘90s would likely remember the 1984 historical drama Another Country. Written by Julian Mitchell, and directed by Marek Kanievska, the film launched Rupert Everett and Colin Firth’s careers. It stormed Cannes, got nominated for a raft of BAFTAs and caused quite a scandal on its release. Beautiful public school boys, a masturbation scandal, floppy hair, same-sex snogs and posh fury at the establishment are just some of the film’s takeaways. In the homophobic mania of the AIDS crisis and a few years before Section 28, Another Country shocked the nation. It’s laughably tame by today’s standards, but people stormed out of cinemas in disgust. Tabloids frothed and dribbled. Almost nobody noticed it was based on the early life of the spy a...