Regeneration

The film opens with Siegfried Sassoon's open letter, Finished with the War: A Soldier's Declaration, published in The Times. It denounces political errors and the sacrifices of fighting men. The letter elevates Sassoon as a war hero yet signals his impending clash with military authorities.

Following his letter and guidance from Robert Graves, the army sends Sassoon to Craiglockhart War Hospital instead of court-martial. At the facility, doctors treat him as a wounded mind rather than a criminal, using a therapeutic setting. The move marks the start of the interwoven stories at the hospital.

Dr. William Rivers begins working with Sassoon, encouraging him to articulate his war memories as therapy. The scenes establish him as a care-focused physician while Sassoon's skepticism about the war remains. Their dynamic becomes central to the film's exploration of trauma and recovery.

Wilfred Owen, a secondary character, befriends Sassoon and aspires to be a poet. Sassoon offers mentorship as Owen seeks to refine his own war poetry. Their bond adds an artistic dimension to the hospital's rehabilitation setting.

Billy Prior, initially unsympathetic, challenges Rivers to uncover the root of his muteness. He soon begins a relationship with Sarah, a munitions worker, highlighting class tensions and the social divide within the wounded. The plot threads interweave with Prior's ambition and skepticism of authority.

During hypnosis, Prior's trauma is revealed as the death of one of his men killed by a bomb. He had assumed his condition stemmed from personal fault, only to discover it was trauma from losing a comrade. He regains speech but remains eager to return to active duty to prove himself.

To care for his own mental strain, Rivers travels to London and witnesses the brutal, machine-driven therapy used by Lewis Yealland. The electric stimulation sessions are used to try to force speech from mutism, a practice Rivers finds inhumane. He leaves with a renewed commitment to compassionate care.

Rivers returns to Craiglockhart and continues helping his patients, pursuing what Sassoon calls gentle miracles. The care remains intense and emotionally costly for Rivers, who begins to suffer his own mental strain. The hospital environment becomes a cradle for healing through storytelling and empathy.

Sassoon insists he has not changed his mind about continuing the war and is determined to return to France to care for his men. During the Review Board, Rivers is surprised by this stance, as Sassoon appears to still oppose the war in principle. The Board ultimately deems him fit for service.

The Review Board's assessment confirms Sassoon as fit for duty, allowing him to return to the front lines. He endures a new injury, but is seen laughing in the face of death. The moment underscores the tension between mental health labels and wartime courage.

Prior is reassigned to home duties, likely due to asthma, which leaves his immediate future uncertain. He is last seen in bed with Sarah, suggesting a continued personal life despite his medical limits. His arc remains hopeful yet unresolved as the hospital timeline moves toward its end.

The concluding scenes show Wilfred Owen's body in a French waterway during the war's final days, with Rivers grieving a lost friend. Rivers reads Owen's The Parable of the Old Man and the Young, which provides emotional closure. The canal tunnel motif, Owen's dream, is resolved as a premonition of his own death.