Faith, Hope and Charity, a machinema movie weighing in at one hour and then some, is the story of the heroic defense of the island fortress of Malta in 1940. The RAF forces at the island had only obsolete Gladiator biplanes to hold off the swarms of Italian fighters and bombers. The movie tells the story of three of the pilots and their desperate struggle to save the island from the onslaught by holding off the Italians until reinforcements arrive.

   Malta, part of the British Commonwealth, is actually a small group of islands in the Mediterranean Sea, about half way between Sicily and the northern coast of Africa. On June 12, 1940, the day after Italy declared war on Britain, the Italians began a prolonged campaign of aerial bombardments against Malta.

   This film highlights the early phase of that conflict as it follows the lives of three RAF pilots: George Burges, John Waters and Timber Woods. These pilots flew Gloster Sea Gladiator biplanes in the heroic defense of the island against more modern Italian fighters and bombers. In all, about six Gladiators were involved in the fighting--some were cannibalized for parts--but only three could ever be scrambled for a single sortie. The legend that arose from that conflict immortalized three of the Gladiators, nicknamed Faith, Hope and Charity.

I found the movie to be emotional, touching and exciting all at once, with a good deal of work having gone into the plot and personalities of the characters. There are a few beautiful scenes in there, too.

The video is more than one hour long and at 1 GB, it takes quite a long time to download. However, I'd say it's well worth it. For those without fast connections, however, it's also available at Google Video.