Review of Defense of the Realm

Pretty standard Left - Wing anti - American propaganda that would have delighted the Wimmin of Greenham Common as they rested between throwing condoms full of urine at the police and hanging used tampons on the fences.Borstal absconder escaping from Old Bill(so its all their fault) enters USAF base and gets squashed by a plane carrying nuclear weapons. Nearly a nasty accident then,and it's kept secret from those guardians of all that's decent and proper - the newspapers. Whilst spying on a philandering M.P.,those self - same guardians etc, etc, etc,stumble upon a possible scandal involving the aforementioned non - event. Screaming with self - righteous indignation,the gentlemen of the press proceed to ignore "D" notices (an event which could have put the editor in prison)and carry out an investigation, careless of its affect,concerned only about increased circulation("We've sold an extra 200,000 copies" smiles odious Newspaper owner Fulton Mckay). It all ends in tears - obviously - and the S.I.S. is shown to be the running dog of the Imperialist Americans,equally obviously. Only Denholm Elliott rings true as the veteran reporter who,to his indignation,is "outed" as a former communist by one of his colleagues "I left The Party in 1956!",he seethes.(For many British Communists,the Russian suppression of Hungary in that year marked a loss of faith). Mr Elliott as the only sympathetic character in the whole movie is clearly marked for an early departure and he is seen off with almost indecent haste after his room is broken into by the S.I.S. running dogs. Gabriel Byrne seems to have settled for "faintly worried" when "seriously concerned" or "raving mad" might have done better. "Defence of the Realm" appears to have been written by the sort of people who spent most Sundays in the early 80s shuffling along the embankment shouting "Maggie,Maggie,Maggie out,out,out!"In spite of all their efforts the Tories stayed in power until 1997 and then Tony Blair came along and proved to be even more of an Imperialist running dog,a poodle of the Great Satan.Life's a bitch eh guys?