The Childhood Trilogy is spare (indeed, it has even been termed calvinist), somewhat similar to Bresson, perhaps, but with an emotional intensity that has almost never been equalled in cinema. My Way Home portrays Douglas's alter-ego Jamie as he moves from borstal to casual employment and then homelessness. The second half of the film takes place in Egypt, following Jamie during his national service. Here salvation finally appears in the form of Robert, charming, educated, upper middle-class, everything, in fact, that the painfully monosyllabic Jamie is not. An unlikely friendship is born, and Robert is finally able to coax Jamie out of this shell.

This is not an easy film to watch, but it towers over almost every other British film before or since. The final ten minutes of the film are amongst the most uplifting in the history of cinema.