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'David' was the Welsh cinematic contribution to the Festival of Britain in 1951 and is based on the true story of school caretaker and poet Dafydd Rhys (D.R. Griffiths) who plays himself in the film. The story is told mainly in flashback and provides a moving portrait of the man’s life, showing him as a boy working in the coal mines, his work as caretaker at the village school, the tragic death of his son, his poetry writing and his friendship with one of the boys in the school who encourages him out of his grief. The film is emotionally charged and illustrates well the grief and the stoicism of the caretaker, the quiet friendship between the caretaker and the boy, and the harsh life of the miners. The film offers strong depictions of Welsh life and culture without slipping into cliché. Many other films in the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales collection also reflect aspects of this cultural legacy, such as 'Yr Etifeddiaeth' ('The Heritage'), filmed in 1949 in the rural north west, and 'The Song We Sing Is About Freedom' from 1975 about the visit to north Wales of a Hubngarian male voice choir. The film 'David' is also one of several portraits of figures in Welsh political and cultural history in the archive's collection, including 'The Life Story of Lloyd George' (1918), 'Dylan Thomas' (1962), and 'Hedd Wyn' (1992) which gives a dramatized account of the life of poet Ellis Evans who was killed in the First World War. |
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