The Brylcreem Boys (4 Stars)

"Some day when this war is over, some of us will be dead. The rest of us will go back to eating, drinking and making love".

Most people know that Switzerland remained independent during the Second World War. Less people know that there was another independent country in Europe: Ireland. That's where this film takes place, from September to December 1941.

In September 1941 the Canadian pilot Miles Keogh was involved in a dogfight with a German pilot. They shot each other down and crashed a few miles from one another. At first he thinks he's in France, but he soon discovers that he's in the Irish Republic. He hitches a ride into the next town and heads to a pub for a drink. He hasn't even finished his pint before Irish military police arrest him and transport him to a POW camp. (The camp isn't named in the film, but it's Curragh, 30 miles Southwest of Dublin). What shocks him even more is that the German pilot, Count Rudolph von Stegenbek, is sitting opposite him in the military vehicle.

On arrival, Miles finds himself prisoner in the most bizarre POW camp of WW2. The Swiss concept of neutrality is to be everyone's friend, but the Irish concept of neutrality is to be everyone's enemy. Whenever anyone in uniform is found in Ireland, whatever nationality, he's sent to Curragh POW camp. The German and the Allied prisoners are kept in the same camp, separated only by a barbed wire fence. They will be kept until the end of the war, however long that is. They're kept in relative comfort. It's more like a holiday camp than a prison. The officers have large rooms, the normal airmen and seamen have smaller rooms. There are pubs for the prisoners. The camp reports the names of the prisoners to the embassies of their countries, so that their wages can be sent to them on a regular basis.

As if that isn't unusual enough, the prisoners are allowed to leave the camp and visit the local village with a day pass. All they have to do is promise to return. Germans have no way of returning to Germany, but in case British airmen flee to Northern Ireland or England, they'll be sent back. The Irish government has made an agreement with the British government that all escapees will be returned.

The camp's commander is played by Gabriel Byrne. He's quiet and relaxed. He just wants everyone to get along. "We don't want your war here", he tells the men when they start shouting abuse across the fence. The problem is worse if the prisoners start fights in the village, when they're no longer segregated. If they create a disturbance they're arrested, and they'll lose their day pass privileges.

War is the ideal breeding ground for racism. The Allied forces think all Germans are evil, and the Germans think all of the Allied forces are evil. Miles especially is hotheaded, and he has a reason for it. Count Rudolph (who prefers to be called Rudi) killed his co-pilot. Miles tries to start fights, but Rudi tells him that they should get along. The German airforce has a long tradition of gentlemanly conduct. When they fight they respect their enemies, and they attack the planes, not the pilots. If a pilot dies in an attack it's considered an unfortunate accident.

Being imprisoned together is educational. Not everyone is the same. Everybody has his own history, on both sides of the war. There are hardcore Nazis among the prisoners, but Rudi isn't one of them. He's an officer and a gentleman, fighting for his country, not his leader. When he's told about German atrocities he's shocked and says he doesn't believe Germans could ever do such things. On the Allied side, not everyone is committed to the war. Sam Gunn is an American film star, and he only volunteered with the RAF for a few months because he wanted publicity.

The conflict between Miles and Rudi takes on a personal note when they both fall in love with the Irish farm girl, Mattie Guerin. Miles meets her by chance, but Rudi is an old friend of her father from before the war. She's played by Jean Butler, a professional dancer appearing in her first film. She danced in Riverdance with Michael Flatley for three years, and she has a short scene in "The Brylcreem Boys" where she can show off her talent.

This is an unusual film based on unusual events. If the film has a message, it's that we should learn to tolerate one another, even in the middle of war. That's a good message, but it's easier said than done.