Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War (2002) User Reviews

Shirley Valentine grows old

[taita · 7/10 · 25 September 2002]

A daring title that may well put a lot of people off but this film is definitely worth a look.

The movie starts with strong overtones of 'Shirley Valentine' (though not as good) as an older Pauline Collins again plays the part of a much put upon not to say bullied wife and mother with no life of her own. There is a small undertone of rebellion even before the fateful day when her husband is laid out for duck or should I say for want of a duck.

Mrs Caldicot finds she does indeed have a mind of her own and starts a small rebellion in the twilight rest home where she has been parked by her son, baulking at the harsh regime and standover tactics of the management.

The story then moves on to an oft repeated scenario of old folks locked away, drugged to the eyeballs to keep them subdued as selfish offspring fulfil their own needs at the expense of the parent. Unfortunately it wont prick the conscience of those guilty of these deeds in real life for two reasons, they wouldn't be able to see themselves up there and they probably wouldn't watch or appreciate a movie of this calibre.

It was fun to see John Alderton up there as an antagonist of Pauline Collins which would have made for some interesting and fiery rehearsals at home I'm sure. Parts of the movie were a little far fetched but added to the overall fun of it. I hope the message got through to viewers about the quality of life for the older generation because there are going to be a lot more of them in the future with the improved health habits and mobility of most aging people. I certainly plan to be one! It may be distressing of course for those who don't have any choice about the long term care of their aged relations, knowing that they may be experiencing these same degrading practices.

Overall a very pleasant 100 minutes of humour, pathos and reckoning and I shall be heartily recommending that my own aged in-laws go and see it.

A light-hearted romp with bite

[nhoney1 · 7/10 · 29 October 2002]

The best comedy is often based on something real. This gives the audience something it can relate to and can provide a real bite to the comedy. The topic may not be funny, as is the case in this movie about how we can mistreat our elderly. But by finding the humour in the subject and poking fun at it, it makes the audience acknowledge the topic, even if only briefly.

The movie is the story of Mrs Caldicot and her fight against bullies for the right to be her own person. It is about the triumph of the 'little woman', that is in the sense of common ordinary folk, although it is also the sort of condescending description that her late unlamented husband may well have used to describe her.

The movie is, however, a caricature, with no shades of grey. The bad guys are so completely bad, the rest home is so horrible, and Mrs Caldicot wins so overwhelmingly. She even ends with a romantic interest. The film makers had evidently decided that as the movie had moved well away from reality, much like several of the inmates at the rest home, they felt no need for any restraint in devising a happy ending. The saddest thing about the film is that even though rest homes are not, I hope, as bad as portrayed, we often do not treat our elderly as well as we could, and in real life there is no happy ending.

However, the movie does not pretend to be anything but a light-hearted comedy. It was always amusing and at times extremely funny. Who would have thought that seeing one of the characters placing a newspaper over his fac e could have been so funny, and there was a delicious irony in the situation he had found himself in. Many of the people in the audience I shared the theatre with were on the mature side of life (alright, old) and they found the movie highly amusing, perhaps because it had a particular resonance for them. They also laughed at several jokes that went right over my head. Never mind, my time will come soon enough.

Star rating: 3 out of 5

[jennifer_litchfield · 6/10 · 9 January 2004]

Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War didn't reap the acclaim and appreciation it deserved upon its cinematic release, which is a shame because it is an enjoyable and comfortable comedy, but it also touches some raw nerves over the treatment of our senior citizens. Even though many audiences will not be able to identify with the aged protagonists, it doesn't take very long before the viewer is rooting for the 'Wrinkly Revolution', as the oldies thumb their noses at the mean-spirited authorities.

The leader of the backlash is Thelma Caldicot - a downtrodden housewife who is prematurely dumped in a retirement home by her money-hungry son and daughter-in-law. 'Twilight Years' is run by an obsequious manager and an iron-fisted matron, whose goals are to keep the profits rolling in, and the patients doped up and stuffed full of boiled cabbage. Thelma rebels against this and rallies the rest home residents into a large-scale escape, which becomes national news.

There are some lovely character roles; in particular the totally over-the-top rest home management duo, who well deserve whatever just desserts befall them. But was it really necessary to give them a sex scene? Additionally, the love interest for Thelma seems a trifle contrived, and doesn't add to the story at all. Where the narrative really works is when it questions our perceptions of what "old" and "past it" really mean, and that the uncomfortable and embarrassing truth is that it is easier to stuff elderly and confused people full of tranquilisers than it is to genuinely help them. Unfortunately, many of these moving scenes are marred by the overly sentimental score. The bouncy theme tune however is perfect for an occasionally outrageous, very funny, very British comedy that will leave the viewer with a pleasant and upbeat aftertaste.

I thought the film was an enjoyable and stirring cry for us not to accept inhumane treatment for ourselves or others.

[darrylr-2 · 21 June 2009]

I thought that the film really stirred my emotions regarding the bullying that was suffered by Mrs Caldicot at different times of her life. It was wonderful how the film showed how 'the worm turned', and how Mrs Caldicot showed us how we can change things in our life that are not beneficial either to us or to other people.

I liked the way against all the odds, that the characters who suffered under the inhumane regime in the care home were able to find strength in unity and positive leadership to change things for the better.

It was well acted, and although I thought that the film music score was a little weak, it left me with a real 'feel-good' experience, so much so that I wanted to find out how to buy a copy of it, hence my stumbling across this web page. I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.

Using light comedy to deal with a serious issue.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 29 March 2022]

It's the "wrinkly revolution" as a TV journalist calls it for recently widowed Pauline Collins whose greedy children use her being alone all of a sudden as an excuse to move her to a badly run retirement home. An admitted untrained nurse tells Collins that the staff isn't certified so they aren't paid all that much, having earlier gasped as the nurse/matron forced a sedative down Collins' throat. The decent nurse refuses to stand by and be a witness to Collins sign paperwork signing her house over to her son so he can sell it later at a profit. Collins wakes up to the patient neglect (and hinted at mistreatment), arranges a day trip for the overly sedated patients, and is asked to leave. Guess who asks to join her when she leaves.

With Collins now a media darling when she goes to the press, she's a threat to the organization who owns the retirement home as well as others, and when she goes on national television, becomes a media darling. Of course, Collins plays the comic elements of her character brilliantly, and is touching as well. This perhaps needed to be a bit more brutal in tilling the mistreatment of the patients in the first half, and eventually, it goes a little bizarre as the escapees from the retirement home end up in a resort hotel. Who's paying for all this? It reminded me of the segments of "She-Devil" where are all of the patients are all of a sudden giving uppers instead of downers and get the life back into them which of course turns that retirement home upside down.

The film makes a lot of important points about elder abuse, but the truth of the matter is Collins never really seems incapacitated in any way and obviously her character would have fought being removed from her home. There are moments where her character of Thelma seems like an older version of Shirley Valentine, envisioning shooting her husband through the head, then revealed to be holding a banana. Other elements shows elements of that character as wrll, as if that character had become ingrained with Collins even though I had seen her in other films where she was nothing like Shirley. Collins is certainly watchable, but the film could have done a lot more to deal with the issues of elder abuse and still have remained funny.

Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 16 March 2024]

Mrs Caldicot's Cabbage War is one of those smug comedy dramas. The kind where the cast seems to be enjoying themselves and it thinks it is making social commentary on the plight of the elderly.

Pauline Collins is Thelma Caldicot. She has spent 40 years under the thumb of her mean spirited husband. After he dies, her son selfish greedy son Derek (Peter Capaldi) dumps her in the Twilight Years Rest Home. While he plans to sell her house.

Thelma hates in at the home. The food is rubbish, everyone is drugged up. Mr Hawksmoor (John Alderton) who runs the home cares more about profit than the dignity of the elderly.

In frustration Thelma and the others rebel. Walking out of the home and into a hotel. It raises media interest.

Full of patronising shallow two dimensional characters. It wants to be a mashup of Shirley Valentine and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. It fails because of a weak, tacky story. It is not funny and the romance angle is tagged on.

Home, sweet home?

[benbrae76 · 10/10 · 30 August 2006]

I viewed and taped this production when it was first shown on TV, and recently had an occasion to re-watch it. I loved it even better the second time around.

It's the tale of a woman forced, by the death of her obnoxious husband and the designs of her avaricious son and his equally greedy wife, to retire to a residential nursing home. She does not find things to her liking. It is run by a strict regime, and although not overly mistreated, the elderly inmates are not exactly handled with due reverence either. The new arrival, Mrs Thelma Caldicot is about to change all that...and how! Hopefully I trust not many (none would be better) of these types of establishments are run as depicted here. Even more so as I'm getting on a bit myself, and one can never be quite certain of the future. However, I have my fingers crossed.

Reminiscent of the American made-for-TV movie, "Amos" (1985) starring an ageing Kirk Douglas, which more poignantly explored a similar theme (as indeed to some extent did a certain two-part episode of "One Foot in the Grave"), "Cabbage War" takes a somewhat less cynical view of things. This results in a robustly delightful, slightly over-the-top comedy, with real life man & wife team John Alderton and Pauline Collins for once in opposition to each other, and playing their parts with perfection and relish. In such a distinguished and superbly chosen cast it's difficult (after Pauline Collins) to pick out the star of the piece. They are all just simply wonderful. Not wishing to spoil it for those who haven't as yet seen it, I won't delve further into the storyline. Suffice it to say that it's one not to be missed.

Is this one of the worst ever British films?

[malcolmgsw · 1/10 · 29 August 2023]

It is difficult to find 600 characters to describe this truly abysmal film It defies belief that this film was ever made. Didnt anyone look at the script and decide it wasn't worth making.

It is bad enough that the script is totally unfunny,the acting is over the top. Everyone plays as if they are to trying to project into the upper circle of a theatre. What were all these actors doing other than picking up a cheque.

What is worse is that this lasts for one hour and forty four minutes.

John Alderton and. Pauline Collins tried their best but could not salvage anything from the wreckage. Tony Robinson is just plain silly.

A comic look at what's in store for all of us

[raymond-15 · 8/10 · 16 January 2005]

Some of the scenes in this black comedy might appear a bit farcical but many of them come dangerously close to the truth. Young and old should see this film and then ask themselves whether this is the future they want to look forward to. While medical science has extended our life expectation, no one has successfully resolved the problem of how to look after our aging citizens in a compassionate and dignified manner.

Mrs. Caldicot (Paukine Collins) of sound mind but tricked into joining the retirees in the Twilight Nursing Home after the death of her ever-demanding husband recognizes that life there is sheer hell and sets about re-organizing the establishment. While senior staff seem to thrive on sex and silver service, the old folk repeatedly get large servings of cabbage at mealtimes. And to stop them from complaining, they are all administered regular doses of sedatives.

One of the funniest scenes in the film is when inventive Mrs. Caldicot puts matron out of action and with the help of other old folk prepare a sumptuous feast for all to enjoy with the accompaniment of the best red and white wines.

On expulsion from the Nursing Home for misbehaviour she is unable to return to her own home because her selfish son has already sold it. There is only one thing to do. She puts up at a hotel with the other oldies and they spend up big with the added enjoyment of room service. It's a farcical situation but your heart goes out to them as they enjoy a few moments of happiness.

When the media hears about the commotion at the Nursing Home Mrs Caldicot speaks her mind and becomes a much sought after TV personality. The latter half of the film amusingly shows us how TV interviewers can manipulate people and how investment companies can and do make profits from the plight of old people. There is much food for thought here.

It's all very familiar and one comes to the conclusion that there should be a lot more Mrs. Caldicots willing to stand up and beat the system and to point us in the right direction.

Mrs. Caldicot....we salute you!

Cabbage

[jack_malvern · 1/10 · 6 January 2006]

Pauline Collins, who shone so brightly in Shirley Valentine, fails to rescue this lamely scripted and poorly acted British comedy. The plot concerns Mrs Caldicot, a widow who is tricked out of her house and into a retirement home, where she is sedated and forced to sign over her property to her son.

She soon realises that she and her fellow residents, who are also sedated to keep them quiet, are being treated unfairly and foments a rebellion against the home's smarmy manager.

But this comedic take on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is mired in pantomime-quality acting and naive plotting in which old people are never disorientated or distressed, and journalists pay for scores of pensioners to be put up in a country house hotel.

I have no idea what Vernon Coleman's novel was like, but it is unlikely that the set decorator who adapted it made many improvements.

It made just £16,400 at the British box office. I would be surprised if most of those who parted with their money did not ask for it back.

Change the channel as soon as it comes on

[caliburna · 4 June 2023]

A truly terrible film, it's an embarrassment to British comedy.

This could only be a topping up the bank account acting job for those involved in this travestry. Nothing about it is worth watching even the advert breaks are more entertaining.

This could have been a chance to shine a light on how the elderly are treated in uncaring care homes in a light-hearted way.

There aren't any laughs to be found in this rubbish. Considering the cast assembled the script is poor and formulated from various sitcoms with the humour removed. This is even worse than the later Carry on films, a sad waste of celluloid that could of been put to better use.

Cabbage is better

[alan.hughes · 2/10 · 28 January 2004]

This is a dreadful waste of celluloid. A trite, unfunny collection of stereotypes with no humour or true feeling.

The targets are easy but this film still manages to miss them

Even with the flu and trapped on the sofa watching the box with no concentration this was still not up to par

Mocumentary in vein of Yes Minister

[michaelboswell-63538 · 9/10 · 8 October 2015]

Entertaining - as what might happen to us all in many ways. On the other hand the awful prospect of life in an institutional setting is horrible. There are many versions of State sanctioned deprivation of liberty - each designed to enhance community well-being that might be compromised by health, behaviour and stranger status. There many stories of abuse in each - to children, aged and ... The fact that she managed to lead an escape is entertaining and even encouraging as we approach 'that' age. But could we? Maybe we should do something before we get there. Just like Yes Minister. Government and public administration is occasionally hilarious. But shouldn't we do something about it? I loved it and have helped many friends work through it as entertainment and as a warning.

Life you wouldn't want of a care home.

[dhheath58 · 10/10 · 11 January 2015]

This film shows just how people are regarded over the age of 60, and unfortunately because generations are getting older, it will only get worse. Everyone in this film shows just what can be achieved if you don't have to sit & eat cabbage and be doped up to the eye balls.

Pauline Collins, plays her part so well, to be put into a home, just because her son (Peter Capaldi) and his wife want her home after his father dies, and now his mother has become "past it." The film shows just how in a position to either be putting someone in to a care home, or being made to go into a care home should be aware of, because this certainly is an eye opener. People are not "past it" just because they don't work, or have lost their partners.

A genuinely heartwarming British comedy and a black mirror to the treatment of the elderly

[keeblet2609 · 9/10 · 4 August 2015]

This film makes me laugh, cry and think every time I watch it. It portrays the 'shut them away' treatment of the elderly that exists in care homes and the profit culture that strips people of their dignity and humanity and creates a so called 'customer' who is walked over and mistreated.

A wonderful, escapist story of overcoming the odds and good winning out in the end. I recommend this for anyone who enjoyed Collins in Shirley Valentine as it is another underdog story where you really root for the main character and share in their victory over the odds!

Thoroughly recommend this little known film to anyone I know!

Catch this one!

[davyd-02237 · 8/10 · 27 January 2019]

Might not go down as everyones favourite. There isn't for the most part much comedy either. However, a woman with an unloving hubby who needs everything done for him, dies suddenly, then the son takes her home and leaves her at an old folks home...then the "fun starts"....the fun and enjoyment is watching how this timid housewife turns the tables on her circumstances and those who are against her. Great performance from everyone, including John Alderton. Catch this one, well worth watching

Great feel-good movie and an eye-opener for aged care

[robertemerald · 8/10 · 9 November 2019]

Cabbage War is a little British gem. Pauline Collins is perfect for her role and it's not long before you get behind her. I don't know if this movie was an examination of marriage, ageism and aged care in Britain, but certainly it has a strong feminist bent. One of the main issues is chemical restraint in aged care homes, something that is currently being examined by a Royal Commission here in Australia. Toward the end it does go a little exaggerated as certain characters become unrealistically loopy, but it charts its course well and the unlikely end comes as a pleasant surprise. Some of Britain's best actors are with this one. The soundtrack was old-fashioned, but I'll concede, given the average age was well over 70, that's to be expected. Not the funniest movie I've ever seen, but one that will certainly make you smile, and certainly one with the purest of intentions.

Little gem, best of British

[lindee · 9/10 · 20 February 2022]

Only caught this film on a Sunday afternoon,pleasantly surprise, with a lot of British Talent, make you think what is in front of us, in our later years if we are lucky enough to make it that far,loved it.

Great film,light hearted comedy that portrays a subject not widely spoken about but brings it to light and makes jolly of it in a good way.

[Caspar1986 · 10/10 · 5 September 2021]

The start is slightly slow to get going and builds up a feeling of sorrow towards the character Mrs Caldicot who has been mistreated for years by her husband who has just died. With a taste of final freedom she is then shipped off to an old persons home by her son and medicated and conned I to selling her house without her permission. She then sees the way the other residents are mistreated and stages a revolt and causes an uproar in the company who own the home and media .it was thoroughly enjoyed and brought to light a topic that unfortunately does happen but hopefully people become more aware through tales like this. Worth a watch, for the older members of society predominantly.