Testament of Youth (2015)

This is a great, beautiful but painfully sad film.
Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander) wants to go to Oxford. It is 1914, England. She is livid when her father surprises her with a piano when all she wanted was to sit for the entrance exams to get into Oxford with her brother, Edward (Taron Egerton). I can't figure out if they are twins, or if she is older or younger than him. She also swears that she will never marry.
That is until she meets Roland Leighton (Kit Harington), one of her brother's friends. They develop an attraction immediately, and grow as close as two people can be with a chaperon near-by at all times.
Then, the war comes and Roland enlists though Vera naively believed that he wouldn't do such a thing. She even pleaded with her father (Dominic West), a surprisingly emotional man, to let Edward enlist so others wouldn't have to do his duty for him.
Vera miraclously gets into Oxford despite translating everything into German instead of Latin because her German skills were stronger than her Latin ones. But she finds it an empty victory without her brother, boyfriend and regular friend, Victor (Colin Morgan) there to make the journey enjoyable. She can't bury her face in books.
Thus, she becomes a nurse and loves it, though the work is grueling and the nurses are often harsh, but it occupies her mind and keeps it off Roland.
She and Roland do become engaged on his leave but he is struggling fitting into normal life and even pushes her down, accidentally, but there was so much death surrounding him and she doesn't understand what he dealt with and he doesn't understand what she deals with in the hospital.
However, just before he is supposed to get more leave and return home for their wedding, he dies. She is literally already in her wedding outfit.
Vera continues nursing and proposes to Victor, who is now blind, but he turns her down, politely of course, and then he dies, perhaps even at his own hand. At the front, she rescues her brother from a dead pile, nurses him back to health and then he returns to the front, but in Italy this time. Vera has to return home because her mother (Emily Watson) nearly has a breakdown because of the lack of servants and food stuffs. Here, her father sobs as he receives a telegram that Edward has also been killed.
The war does end, finally, four years after it began. And Vera starts speaking out against the war. She wants to remember the lives lost, so that they will not be forgotten.
Also, pay attention to the officer who was there when Roland died, he plays an important part in Vera's life. His name is George Catlin (Henry Garrett).
The film is brilliantly done, with realistic gritty hospital scenes and lush scenery. You feel like you have been transported back to 1914 England. There are very few problems with the film. After Edward's death, Vera goes into a muddy road and smears mud over herself, to get close to how her brother would have died. That was an odd scene. You also wonder when the film will end.
However, these are minor details. The performances are brilliant and Vikander proves herself a force to be reckoned with. She will have a great career ahead of her. Grade: A-