12A, 112 mins
The Rocket Post is a twee and surprisingly touching romantic comedy about a totally mad experiment. Two German rocket scientists are employed by the British Government in 1938 to perfect a postal system that involves firing a rocket loaded with mail from the island of Scarp in the Outer Hebrides to the mainland. Gerhard Zucher (Ulrich Thomsen) and his sidekick Heinz (Eddie Marsan), are duly humiliated by the locals.
Heinz feels they are squandering their talents on peasants when they should be fighting for the Führer. But Gerhard falls in love with the local siren, Catherine (Shauna Macdonald), and his ability to muck in with the locals makes him a surprising number of new friends.
It would be easy to write this film off as another pale shade of Whisky Galore, but I was moved by the old-fashioned whimsy. The director Stephen Whittaker’s feel for landscape makes it easy to watch. The plot is too cute for words but the characters are infectious, and the performances bring a tear to the eye.
Advertisement
JAMES CHRISTOPHER