But the war turned him into a great poet. SIMON: This great poet, Siegfried Sassoon, threw his war medals into the Mersey River - an acclaimed poet who was at war with war and, to a degree, himself as well?ĭAVIES: Yes, I think very much that. SIMON: That's Jack Lowden as Siegfried Sassoon in Terence Davies' new film 'Benediction.' And Terence Davies, the acclaimed writer and director of many films, including 'The House Of Mirth,' joins us now. Rivers) There can be an easement of pain. Too much has been destroyed.ĭANIELS: (As Dr. LOWDEN: (As Siegfried Sassoon) Too many have died. JACK LOWDEN: (As Siegfried Sassoon) What I feel cannot be talked away or soothed into silence. He wasn't court martialed but sent to a country hospital for treatment for his shell shock by doctors. He wrote his commanders a letter to say so. Sassoon added up all the good men he'd seen lose their lives and decided he could no longer support war. But while on convalescence from the front, Lt. He was also a British gentleman who excelled at cricket and poetry. Siegfried Sassoon was a model British officer decorated for his daring and valor in the trenches of World War I, hailed by the soldiers he commanded as Mad Jack for his audacious nighttime raids.
