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Published: 15 December, 2011
by DAN CARRIER

Directed by DR Hood
Certificate: 15

Rating: 4 Out Of 5 Stars

This is perhaps not the best film to watch during the festive period.

It has buckets of family strife.

Wreckers starts off in fine fettle but soon has nasty chasms open up – not what you need as we hunker down till January and spend hours in close proximity with your nearest and dearest.

We meet David (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dawn (Claire Foy) who have got hitched and headed out of the big, bad city for a new life in the rural idyll of the small village David grew up in.

They’ve got the Grand Designs/River Cottage bug – they buy a wreck with plans to convert it.

Dawn initially finds the countryside a little daunting, but wants to keep chickens and have a family.

What could possibly go wrong in this modern take on The Good Life?

Things take a turn when David’s little brother Nick (Shaun Evans) turns up.

He is a soldier and has come to see them while on leave.

But the visit causes problems: he sleepwalks, and clearly is carrying the soldier’s curse of trauma with him.

Dawn’s instincts are to reach out and help – and through this she begins to find out more about her husband – and discovers a past she did not know.

This is a watchable and well-made film, helped by compelling and believable performances from all concerned.

It is helped by a director with an eye for the loneliness of the English countryside – some shots are Hardy-esque in their composition as a backdrop to peer inside the troubled souls on screen.