Testament of Youth

In 1933, Vera Brittain (1893-1970) published her renowned autobiography, Testament of Youth, in which she recounted her experiences as a British Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse in World War I. As an upper-middle class woman, she studied at Oxford University Summerville College before the war and volunteered for the VAD after her brother, her fiancé, and their childhood friend went to the Front. She ultimately is forced to mourn the loss of all three. In 2015, director James Kent turned the autobiography into a critically acclaimed film starring Alicia Vikander as Brittain. The film is a searing and poignant portrayal of the “lost generation,” and refuses to gloss over the depth  of that loss. Alicia Vikander effectively conveys the agony and outrage Brittain expressed in her autobiography as she reflects on the tragedies in both her personal life caused by the war and for her generation as a whole.