Boy's Struggle against the Nazis (From Stroud News and Journal)

Boy's Struggle against the Nazis

THE GLAMOROUS Cannes film festival could be on the cards for one Randwick boy now that he has finished filming the lead role in a short film alongside top film and TV stars.

Guy Davies, 13, landed the role in Benjamin's Struggle, a film about the wartime Nazi regime, through a teacher at his school, Wycliffe College, Stonehouse.

Starring alongside Alison Doody, who was a Bond girl and also appeared in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as well as Andrew Sachs, the infamous Manual from Faulty Towers, Guy played the main part of nine year-old Jewish boy, Benjamin.

In the film, which was shot in Bristol, Benjamin tries to bring down the Third Reich by stealing Hitler's Mein Kampf manuscript in the hope that it will help end the suffering of his family.

Although Guy has been in a lot of stage productions this is the first time he has ever acted behind the camera.

He said: "On the first day I kept noticing the camera and glancing at it by accident but after that I got used to it."

For the role Guy had to learn to speak with a Jewish-German accent and act out a young boy's reaction to seeing his mother being raped, but he said the most difficult scene was riding an old bike over cobbled streets in a heavy thunderstorm.

Guy's mother Kathy Davies who is an English Literature teacher at Wycliffe also features briefly in the film as an extra and Guy's dad, Howard has his hand in the film after acting as a hand double for Guy's on screen dad.

Mrs Davies said: "The film cost about £87,000 but that is relatively cheap for a film. The Director said to Guy on the first day, 'I don't want to put too much pressure on you but there's £87,000 riding on your head."

But Guy said he didn't feel under pressure and saw it as a challenge. The Bristol based writer and director, James Breese, made the film for the Holocaust Education Trust in response to the amount of Nazi memorabilia around at the moment and is hoping that it will come out on top in the short film category at the next Cannes film festival.

Guy said: "James thinks I have got a good chance of winning a prize at Cannes but I'm not as sure as he is."

Benjamin's Struggle is currently in the final production stages and it is hoped that when it has been finished it will be distributed to schools for educational purposes.