On the seventh day of
Christmas, my true love gave to me – seven Royal Marines a defending
“An Ungentlemanly Act” was filmed to commemorate the
10th Anniversary of the Falklands War. It covers the start of the conflict. A background statement informs that the
British Royal Marines took over the islands in 1833 and the Argentines had
wanted it back ever since then. The
movie was filmed in the Falkland Islands and in a British studio for BBC 1. It was well-received and won a BAFTA for “Best
Single Drama”.
The story opens in April,
1982. Life on the main island is British
idyllic. We meet the townspeople who are
typical blokes and birds. The center of
their society is the pub, of course. This
utopia is going to change. War talk is
in the air. The new commander of the
small Royal Marines detachment Maj. Norman (Bob Peck) gives a rousing speech to
his charges. Contrast this with Governor
Hunt’s (Ian Richardson) wife who questions whether the islands are worth
it. Women – they always want to stop the
fun.
The action takes a while to arrive
(there’s a lot of talking), but when it does it is pretty good for a TV
movie. Argentine commandoes (don’t
laugh!) attack the governor’s house.
Cool use of tracers in the night.
It’s a last stand with glass shards.
The Royal Marines hold out until the main landings begin. The Argentines will have to use that war
movie trope of quantity defeats quality.
Plus they bring armored personnel carriers. Not very sporting. Governor Hunt negotiates with the Argentine
commander and does the reasonable, non-William Travis thing. A newsreelish post script assures us
Anglophiles that all was well in the end.
G.B.! G.B.! G.B.!
“An Ungentlemanly Act” is an
informative little film. It is an accurate
depiction of the onset of the war. I
learned a lot from the film. Believe it
or not, I do not teach it in my American History class. On the other hand, I bet they don’t teach
Grenada in British classrooms. We’ll
call it even. The movie is nobly
even-handed. For instance, the Argentine
commander is not a villain. The movie
was shown on Argentine TV. That tells
you a lot about it. The action is
surprisingly intense although not particularly suspenseful as no significant
British character is even wounded. The
acting is above average with Richardson providing the gravitas. The movie begs for a sequel. I’d watch that. In fact, are there any good movies on the war
itself?
Grade = B-
A little late to the party, but there are a couple other good made for TV films about the conflict.
ReplyDeleteTumbledown, about real life Royal Army Lt. Robert Lawrence who survived getting shot in the head during the final hours of the war. It was an early staring role for Colin Firth.
Also, The Falklands Play, which tells the story from the Thatcher government's perspective and a tiny bit from the Regan administration's as well.
There's also a couple Argentine films, Blessed by Fire and Soldado Argentino though I haven't gotten around to watching them yet.
Thanks.
DeleteI recently finished reading The First Casualty by Ricky D. Philips. Probably the definitive book about the initial Argentine invasion of the islands (though there haven't exactly been many published). Mostly from the British perspective but there's quite a bit from the Argentine side as well. Worth reading if you can spare the time.
DeleteInterestingly, while this movie was well received by general audiences, veterans of both sides aren't fans of it. They claim that it underrepresents the scale of the fighting.
Also, it appears that the Argentine casualty count was far higher than portrayed is this film, with at least dozens killed and wounded, though 1 killed and 6 wounded remains the official count to this day.
Thanks for the information.
Delete