As a farmer's son in the village of Trawsfynydd, Ellis Humphrey Evans composes poetry for local eisteddfodau under the bardic name Hedd Wyn ("Blessed Peace"), dreaming of being crowned Chief Bard at the National Eisteddfod. When, in August 1914, Britain declares war on Germany, several young men from Trawsfynydd join the British Army, including Ellis' friend Griff. Despite mounting pressure, Ellis refuses to enlist and says that he does not think he can kill anyone.
On a train, Ellis encounters Jini Owen, a young woman who admires his poetry. Noticing her interest in him, Ellis asks for Jini's address and sends her a letter. Soon the two are deeply in love. Not long afterwards, an official of the draft board arrives at the family farm and takes down the names of Ellis and his brother Bob, despite the resistance of Ellis' mother. As a result, the board informs the Evans family that one of their sons must enlist in the British Army.
Although 17-year-old Bob longs to enlist instead, Ellis refuses to permit this. Horrified of losing him, Jini pleads with Ellis to let Bob enlist in his place but Ellis says he could never live with himself if Bob were injured or killed, so departs to join the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Liverpool[6] and after training is sent to the front in France. Facing what may be his last chance to win the Eisteddfod, Ellis pleads with his platoon commander to send his awdlYr Arwr (The Hero) via the Army Postal Service.
On 31 July 1917, the Fusiliers go over the top and into the Battle of Passchendaele. Ellis witnesses his fellow soldiers being shot and blown to pieces around him before, finally, he is wounded by shrapnel and crumples to the ground. After hours lying in no man's land, Ellis is evacuated to an aid post, where he succumbs to his injuries. His parents are devastated when they receive a telegram informing them of his death. Jini weeps inconsolably as she reads Ellis' last letter, in which he proposes marriage. Soon after, the Evans family receives another telegram which announces that Ellis' submission has won the National Eisteddfod and the chair which Ellis has dreamed of all his life is delivered to his parents' farmhouse, robed in black.
Commentary
Hedd Wyn has been cited by Kate Woodward of Aberystwyth University as one of "a number of films produced for S4C which ... scrutinized the trinity of dynamic tensions that existed between Wales, England and 'Britain'".[7] It is described as "expressing the feelings of Welsh men who are fighting the British cause in wartime, despite their being at odds with aspects of the conflict and the priorities of a Westminster government....In the film, the war-mongering attitude is synonymous with England and Englishness, and the Welsh and English languages are persistently juxtaposed....[T]he Welsh language is a site of struggle, but by exploring its difference with the English language, it is also a means of defining and strengthening one's identity".[7]
