Britannia Hospital

1982

Action / Comedy / Sci-Fi

6
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 54% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 54% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.2/10 10 3123 3.1K

dark comedy satire hospital cult film

Plot summary

Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.

Director

Lindsay Anderson Photo
Lindsay Anderson

Top cast

Aileen Lewis Photo
Aileen Lewis as Lady-In-Waiting
Roland Culver Photo
Roland Culver as General Wetherby
Gabrielle Lloyd Photo
Gabrielle Lloyd as Private Nurse
Tony Haygarth Photo
Tony Haygarth as Fraser: The Workers
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.04 GB
1280*688
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 1
1.94 GB
1904*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 56 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by frankbannister-1 7 / 10

shocking satire about world collapse

Lindsay Anderson was several years ago one of my favourite directors and then, 5 years ago, I thought that this film is possible his best. Since then I saw again Britannia Hospital at least five times - and it didn't worked always - in contrast Anderson's If..., which is better and better with every watching. However, Britannia Hospital is still a very good film, but its content maybe too disturbing for a lot of viewers. I mean, not only its details (for example, eating pieces of brain, by the way, didn't Hannibal - the movie - discover it), but the consequences of the whole film. This film's dark and painful thoughts about mankind and our future are very frightening, because they - if we can face it - almost (or entirely?) the reality. Although Lindsay Anderson's satire is focused on Britannia Hospital, where the most of the plot plays, this parabolic form is about the whole world: from the poor people to the rich, from the caretaker to the mad scientist. Britannia Hospital is full of moments of horror and black comedy (namely its subplot is parody/paraphraze of Frankenstein-story), but its strongest parts are when its laughing (or crying) on the figures of government and other leaders (the master of BH, the main strikers, even the Queen). The solution is Britannia Hospital - in a paradox way - there is no solution for mankind. Maybe the speech of the professor at the end is a little didactic, but at same time quite honest; but not he has the last world in the film. For those who have already seen this film, it is known, what I'm talking about; for those who are going to see BH, let it be a surprise. It's unforgettable, but extremely sad moment: a shocking last shot to Britannia Hospital.
Reviewed by funkyfry 7 / 10

Once you check in....

Anderson's dark satire on politics within a hospital (perhaps after the apocalypse) falls slightly flat only for those familiar with the 2 exceptional films that this one is ostensibly a sequel to. The humor here is even more extreme and grotesque than in "O Lucky Man" -- at one point the hero's head is cut off and placed on a substitute body. Hamill is amusing as a news technician too stoned to save MacDowell, or even himself, from the lunacy. Unfortunately, the script relies on "joke jokes" and has too little of an emotional center (MacDowell's character is taken out of the center of things here for some reason, perhaps budgetary). Nice photography. Fans of sadistic humor should get a great kick out of it, but "O Lucky Man" and "If....." are in every way superior.
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