91Èȱ¬

UK 2004 (90 mins)
Directed by Matt Dickinson
With Steve Varden, Derek Jacobi

Cloud Cuckoo Land is a feel-good movie in which the main character happens to have cerebral palsy and is, surprise surprise, played by a bona fide disabled actor - Steve Varden.

Set for a limited release - in Sheffield and Bradford - and premiering at the London Disability Film Festival on Wednesday 1 December, this film warms the proverbial cockles and deserves a far wider audience. Comparisons with the much-hyped and ultimately doomed Inside I'm Dancing (pity that!) seem trite, but as an antithesis to this commercialised pap, Cloud Cuckoo Land goes some way to redressing the clichéd and offensive misrepresentation of disability in mainstream films.

Whether this film itself manages to become mainstream remains to be seen, as the producers struggle for further distribution rights. How ironic that Inside I'm Dancing received massive coverage and distribution, only to sink without trace, while Cloud Cuckoo Land struggles to make any broader impression amongst movie bookers. Salt would be really rubbed in the wound if the failure of the former prevented further investment or commitment to films in which disability is at the forefront.

Here's a film that you can snuggle up and enjoy on a Sunday afternoon, in which a bloke with disability fulfils his dreams. The non-disabled get enough chances to chase manly celluloid fantasies, so why not us? The storyline is occasionally predictable, and some of the acting less than convincing, but this is more than compensated for by the overall feel of the movie. It's a feast of photography, and a heady mix of hang-gliding, poetry, German hippies, sex and aircraft hangars ensure some delightful moments.

Sandy Kenyon - our hero - wants to fly, and his dreams are inspired by the restoration of old airplanes with his grandfather (played by Derek Jacobi). They search for old wrecks and lovingly put them together again. Much time is spent in swamps, sniffing for traces of petroleum and falling over. Having cerebral palsy myself, I've always been a big fan of ungainly tumbling! Authenticity is the key, and Varden falls with aplomb.

Before taking to the air, Sandy needs to fly the coop of the care home, which he does in a refreshingly simple way - he packs his bags, and leaves! His quest for independence and rusting metal takes him to the Lake District, where he falls in with a rag-bag collection of hippies. The ordered life of the institution is soon replaced by a laissez-faire concoction of outsiders, dying caravans, drugs, abysmal music, frantic body piercings and general weirdness.

The timorous waitress in the local market town - played excellently by Boo Pearce - gradually overcomes her initial and comic fears surrounding disability, to develop a healthy predilection towards Sandy's wiles. Poetry, romance and extra-curricular activities follow.

Sandy's propensity for dreaming grows, as obstacles are indelicately swerved and prejudices resolutely knocked on the head. The sky is the limit - it says so on the packaging!

Cloud Cuckoo Land is flawed, and could have done with further re-writes, but the energy and ambition of the film shine through. Steve Varden makes a strong debut in a feature-length film, and a world in which fantasy and reality collide is successfully created.