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ANOTHER COUNTRY (1984)
Another Country
Director Marek Kanievska's stylish 1984 adaptation of Julian Mitchell's play Another Country was the movie that introduced the world to Rupert Everett – not to mention Cary Elwes and recent Oscar winner Colin Firth. The gay Everett has said he thinks his own coming out in 1989 diminished his career as an actor. Certainly, he got off on a great foot as a leading man in Another Country, playing the role of Guy Bennett. Bennett wants to become a leader at an elite school in 1930s England, but those dreams are dashed when his clandestine affair with another man (Elwes) comes to light. The gorgeously shot, superbly acted E.M. Forster-style drama, based on a true story, is fundamentally a critique of the British class system and an exploration of the conflict between tradition and modernity. But it's the tender gay love story at its heart that many remember best. This was, after all, a rather rare, positive portrayal of gay people at a time when ''AIDS panic'' was fueling widespread homophobia. Yet here was Everett and Elwes, two impossibly pretty, preppy – normal – boys in love. --Doug Rule
