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Films about the Falklands War

DaveCinzano

WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Watched the 1987 documentary The Falklands War: The Untold Story today - a powerful one, not at all gung ho, pretty grim, actually, and some incredibly moving interviews.

But then I was thinking, there's not many (dramatic) films about the conflict.

  • Tumbledown (1988) - Scots Guards officer Colin Firth shot by sniper on Mount Tumbledown
  • Resurrected (1989) - Soldier David Thewlis is wounded presumed dead and left behind in the Falklands
  • An Ungentlemanly Act (1992) - Ian Richardson as Governor-General Rex Hunt, Bob Peck leads the Royal Marine garrison as Argentinian forces overrun Port Stanley
  • The Falklands Play (2002) - Patricia Hodge as the Old Iron Woman taking on the Tin-Pot Foreign General (with other people's blood-sacrifices, obvs)
  • Iluminados Por El Fuego AKA Blessed By Fire (2005) Former Argentine conscript Gastón Pauls tries to come to terms with his memories and experiences
Any more you'd recommend? Actually about rather than just generally ‘against the backdrop’ etc, so no This Is England etc.
 
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This Is England has a character affected by the war.
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This Is England has a character affected by the war.
Bottom also featured a relevant episode.

Iirc, it was the first time I encountered the phrase “goose green,” and also the first time I encountered the idea of a “chicken vindaloo flavoured condom.”

Edit: tbh, I’ve been quite interested about both the falklands and the neglect of it over the years. So am properly interested by this thread.
 
Things I have just learned.

The episode begins with Richie and Eddie acting as volunteers in an identity parade. A suited man is accompanied into the room by a uniformed police officer, whom Richie insults, assuming him to be the criminal. It turns out, however, to be a member of CID, Chief Inspector Grobbelaar. The suspects are brought in, who turn out to be Eddie's friends Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog. Spudgun's mother, Mrs. Potato, enters the room and identifies him as stealing her handbag to take to a cross-dressing party. Chief Inspector Grobbelaar orders one of the officers to take her outside and give her a good drubbing.

Next, we see Richie and Eddie entering their local pub, The Lamb and Flag. They go to order drinks with their earnings from the identity parade, and notice that there is a new barmaid. The two pretend to be health and safety officers in order to get free food and drinks. Spudgun, Dave Hedgehog and Mrs. Potato are also posing as health and safety officers, and are planning their next identity parade that afternoon. Richie tries to chat up the barmaid (Julia Sawalha), complimenting her on her "short summer frock" and asking whether she uses Timoteishampoo. While doing so, he claims he was a soldier in the Falklands War. This catches the attention of a nearby drinker (Robert Llewellyn), who actually fought in the war, who starts questioning him.

Meanwhile, the toilet door bursts open, and a man staggers drunkenly into the bar and collapses, where a visibly shocked Richie announces that it is the local bookmaker, tight-mouthed Larry. Larry then vomits at their feet, leading a confused Eddie to point out that he isn't being very tight-mouthed today. The Falklands veteran begins questioning Richie again, and shows him his service medal. Richie is shocked and doesn't know what to say. The war veteran also shows Richie that he lost his leg in the war and now has a false leg made of carved wood. He carries on questioning Richie and works out that he was lying about being in the Falklands War. Richie shows the veteran his appendix scar. This doesn't impress the veteran, who thinks that Richie is showing him his "very small" penis and beats him up. Then Tight-Mouthed Larry reappears and tells the entire pub of a horse, Sad Ken, that is certain to win despite having 100/1 odds. He tells everyone in the pub that it is a secret and to forget it before he leaves.

Richie is left lamenting the fact that he and Eddie have only £16 between them to put on the horse, and openly admits he wishes he had a huge wad. Eddie then points out that perhaps a great big pile of cash would be more useful in the circumstances and the two go to the toilets, where they plan to steal the war veteran's leg, take it to a pawnbroker, sell it, place the proceeds on Sad Ken, buy the leg back with the winnings and keep the profit. They leave the toilets to find that the veteran has fallen asleep. Eddie runs over and tries to remove his leg, before realising he is twisting the veteran's real leg. Richie takes over and unfastens the false leg, and sends Eddie to the pawnbroker to sell the leg and place the bet. Richie starts feeding the veteran alcohol with a funnel to keep him asleep.

At Harry The Bastard's Pawnshop, there is a crowd of people selling various items to raise stake money for the horse race. Spudgun is trying to sell a rat, claiming it is a mink. Eddie enters with the leg. Harry says it must be worth at least £2,500, but offers Eddie £1.50. Eddie blackmails Harry into giving him £500 for it.

Back in the pub, the war veteran wakes up, and says that he feels completely legless and wants to go for a walk to clear his head. Richie points out that he doesn't know the half of it and persuades him to stay in his seat by asking to hear some war stories. At the bookie's, Eddie places "£500, on the nose, on Sad Ken", and the cashier asks him if he would like to pay tax. Outraged by the suggestion, Eddie declines, pointing out that it is the most ridiculous question he's ever heard before going to watch the race with the rest of the drinkers. Sad Ken, who is blind and only has three legs, runs the wrong way and falls over, then is shot along with his jockey.

Eddie returns to the pub and explains that Sad Ken didn't win, and now they have no money to buy the leg back with. Tight-Mouthed Larry and Dick Head, the pub landlord, enter the bar with a pile of money and reveal that the Sad Ken tip had been a scam, and the new barmaid had been Dick's niece, Veronica.

The pair go back into the toilet and plan to mug the next person who enters. A man enters who they start to beat up, but it turns out to be Chief Inspector Grobbelaar. The episode ends back in the police station, with Richie and Eddie in an identity parade, where Eddie demands to see a, preferably naked female, lawyer. Chief Inspector Grobbelaar picks the two out as the men who assaulted him, and the other police officers start beating up Richie and Eddie.


Cast
I) Bottom sounds pretty shit, with the benefit of hindsight.
I) that was Kryten who’d fought in the falklands.
I) that’s probably where @sad ken got his username.
I) bottom is one of the few programmes with synopses that take more time to read than it takes to watch a whole fucking episode.
 
Watched the 1987 documentary The Falklands War: The Untold Story today - a powerful one, not at all gung ho, pretty grim, actually, and some incredibly moving interviews.

That's a really good documentary - seems sort of universal - mostly because it's people who were directly involved just being honest.
 
That's a really good documentary - seems sort of universal - mostly because it's people who were directly involved just being honest.
Thankfully politicians are kept to an absolute minimum - Whitelaw was clearly determined to come across as a complete cunt, mind.

A crapload of PTSD on display on the screen :(
 
Thankfully politicians are kept to an absolute minimum - Whitelaw was clearly determined to come across as a complete cunt, mind.

It's years since I watched it. I suppose Whitelaw at least had served in WWII, and knew what the stakes were. I remember a Parachute Regiment Sergeant dryly going on about how they had never practised a beach landing, and things being a bit of a mess.

A crapload of PTSD on display on the screen :(

Yep.
 
The character Grant Mitchell, in the early days, was traumatised by his time in the Falklands and iirc, a lot of his violent rages were triggered by PTSD.

(Not that I'd recommend watching ancient Eastenders, mind)

Tumbledown was an exceptional film, would like to see that again and An Ungentlemanly Act.
 
This is assembled from various mainly contemporaneous sources, blow by blow, detailed but well jingoistic on the part UK reporters
 
Part one of the kids' drama A Game Of Soldiers (broadcast in the ‘Middle English‘ educational TV strand), written by Jan Needle:

 
Okay, so not a feature film or a documentary movie or even a TV programme, but this looks most interesting:

In Lola Arias’ Minefield six Falklands/Malvinas war veterans who once faced each other across a battle field now face each other across a stage. Together they share memories, films, songs and photos as they recall their collective war and embody the political figures that led them into it.

Soldier, veteran, human – these men have stories to share as they take us from the horrors of war to today’s uncertainties, with brutal honesty and startling humour.

Digging deep into the personal impact of war,
Minefield is a collaboratively created work that merges theatre and film to explore the minefield of memory, where truth and fiction collide.

Minefield was created with and is performed by:
  • Gabriel Sagastume was a soldier who never wanted to shoot a gun, now he is a criminal lawyer.
  • David Jackson spent the war listening and transcribing radio codes, now he listens to other veterans in his role as a counsellor.
  • Marcelo Vallejo was a mortar direction controller, now he is a triathlon champion.
  • Sukrim Rai was a Gurkha and expert with his knife, now he works as a security guard.
  • Ruben Otero survived the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano, now he has a Beatles tribute band.
  • Lou Armour was on the front page of every newspaper when the Argentinians took him prisoner on the 2nd April, now he is a teacher for children with learning difficulties.



22-24 March 2018, Northern Stage, Newcastle (TICKETS)

28-29 & 31 March 2018, York Theatre Royal (TICKETS)

5-7 April 2018, Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff (TICKETS)

12-14 April 2018, HOME, Manchester (TICKETS)

Minefield - 22/03/2018 20:00:00

Meet the MINEFIELD veterans

Minefield | British Council

Minefield: two sides of the Falklands war – on one stage
 
Watched the doc in the OP, fascinating stuff.

Reminded me that when I was in the cadets at school we went on 'exercise' with some ex-Falklands Royal Anglians who told us that H Jones was actually shot in the back accidentally by his own troops, and was a gung-ho bell end.
 
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