Allelujah is a star-studded adaptation of Alan Bennett's play about a Yorkshire hospital in danger of being closed down by market forces.
English playwright Alan Bennett, now nearly 90, is a bit of a force of nature, albeit a modest one.
Best known for his many plays in the theatre and on TV, he's also written several award-winning movies, including The Madness of King George, The Lady in the Van and The History Boys.
Bennett's latest is called Allelujah, based on a recent play.
It's set in a hospital for the elderly - the Bethlehem, nicknamed "the Beth" - and deals with people of roughly the same age as Bennett.
So you might expect his own powers might be fading a little too. I certainly did, as I watched the trailer full of many senior English performers, and braced myself for yet another "old folks in a home" comedy-drama.
But it's not that. The performers may be senior, but they're here to work, and Alan Bennett's play - adapted for the screen by Heidi Thomas, showrunner of the popular medical series Call the Midwife - gives them something to get their teeth into.
It's nothing less than a battle cry on behalf of Britain's beleaguered NHS, under fire in 2018 when the play was written, and even more so now, post-Covid.
The story opens with the Beth in danger of being closed by a right-wing government. It's also the last week at work for long-time senior nurse Sister Gilpin - a rare straight role for comedienne Jennifer Saunders.
The film is full of familiar faces, though.
Unlike the usual all-star fare, the likes of Judi Dench, Derek Jacobi and David Bradley weren't hired for their celebrity - they were hired because they're good.
That's an uncredited Amanda Root, offering to skydive to raise funds for the Beth.
There's a regular visitor Colin - I wonder how many Alan Bennett characters have been called Colin over the years - who's not just there to bring his dad a bunch of grapes.
These days, Colin's a consultant for the government, charged with closing down the Beth as soon as possible.
I have to say some people have complained that Allelujah is far from the light, breezy comedy they were promised in the trailer, and they're right.
It's as dedicated to the values of the public health service as anything by Ken Loach, though Alan Bennett brings something of his own. His voice is unmistakable.
Yorkshire-born Judi Dench is finally allowed to use her original accent... there a phrase more Alan Bennett than "monthly periodical"?
At the start, the film - narrated by the ex-pat Indian doctor Valentine - seems to be a series of Bennett's well-known character sketches.
But we're being softened up. The pitch-perfect direction is by another octogenarian theatrical - the great Richard Eyre, who long ago worked with Judi Dench on another film about ageing, Iris.
Eyre deftly focuses on the characters who count in Allelujah - Sister Gilpin (tough but caring), the soft-hearted Doctor Valentine, and Russell Tovey as Colin, wielding a sword over the Beth in the name of efficiency.
And just as we settle into a worthy - if well-written - opinion piece about the values of post-war Britain, Alan Bennett pulls the rug under us, not once but twice.
I didn't see the first one coming, and Bennett himself didn't see the second one - a pandemic upending all of Britain's expectations.
The play Allelujah was given a brilliant final scene for the post-Covid era. The film version is a tribute to another national treasure - the veterans of British drama.
It's so much better than you might expect, even if some critics may have wished for something meeker and weaker.
They clearly haven't been paying attention to the author. Alan Bennett - after all these years - has still undeniably got it. How many of us can say the same thing?
