Mini-Review: Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way? Maybe, but I, for one, just cannot grasp how anybody, society at large or the Donors themselves, would acquiesce to this arrangement. If I were a Hailsham kid I would eventually wind up donning my purple shirt and stabbing people in the eye just to vent my rage at the sheer injustice of it all. Not these people, so despite the strong performances, this film with its sado-masochistic themes and drab-and-dreary look just won't work for me.