This film is a subtle exploration on the nature of heroism, and how a soldier can as easily be loathed as lionized. Taking as it's backdrop the 1982 Falklands conflict, the young soldier here has gone missing following the assault on Stanley. He is missing presumed dead, and a memorial service is duly held for him. However he turns up back from the dead freezing and frightened.
David Thewlis is superb as the ordinary young man who just happens to be doing the job of soldiering. Some reviewers saw this film as simply an attack on the military, which is woefully missing the point. There's no doubt that there's as much brutality in a fired up gang of young men, whether they be in a pub or a barrack room, civilian or military, as those experiencing the true face of battle. We push young men & now women into conflicts, expecting them suddenly with training to become super heroes. This film is saying that in reality our view of warfare is still as black and white as the film of 'Reach for the sky' that is shown playing on the television in the hospital ward, where the men who are not the acceptable face of war are being treated for more mental as well as physical injuries.
Really in the end it doesn't matter whether the soldier was a hero traumatised under heavy fire or a frightened kid who saw a ghost and ran. What matters is that there are as many grey areas in warfare & heroism as the bleak landscape of the Falklands itself.
David Thewlis is superb as the ordinary young man who just happens to be doing the job of soldiering. Some reviewers saw this film as simply an attack on the military, which is woefully missing the point. There's no doubt that there's as much brutality in a fired up gang of young men, whether they be in a pub or a barrack room, civilian or military, as those experiencing the true face of battle. We push young men & now women into conflicts, expecting them suddenly with training to become super heroes. This film is saying that in reality our view of warfare is still as black and white as the film of 'Reach for the sky' that is shown playing on the television in the hospital ward, where the men who are not the acceptable face of war are being treated for more mental as well as physical injuries.
Really in the end it doesn't matter whether the soldier was a hero traumatised under heavy fire or a frightened kid who saw a ghost and ran. What matters is that there are as many grey areas in warfare & heroism as the bleak landscape of the Falklands itself.