Tumbledown (1988) (TV)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Richard Eyre

Writer:

Charles Wood (writer)

Release Date:

30 May 1988 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Based on the experiences of Lieutenant Robert Lawrence, M.C. |

Plot Keywords:

Falklands War

Awards:

5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Colin Firth	...	Robert Lawrence
Paul Rhys	...	Hugh MacKessac
David Calder	...	John Lawrence
Barbara Leigh-Hunt	...	Jean Lawrence
Emma Harbour	...	Sophie Martin-Wells
Rupert Baker	...	Nick Lawrence
Jack Fortune	...	Christopher Lawrence
Roddy Maude-Roxby	...	George Stubbs
Ann Bell	...	Helen Stubbs
Sophie Thompson	...	Louise Stubbs
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Leila Bertrand	...	Night nurse #2
Tam Dean Burn	...	Sgt. Brodick
Timothy Carlton	...	Lt. Col. Bill Kirke
Tony Caunter	...	Air Commodore
Sharon D. Clarke	...	Night nurse #1
Ben Cole	...	Harry Hebers
David Conville	...	Brigade officer
Winston Crooke	...	Benny
Robin Daglish	...	Maj. Peter Walsh
Murray Ewan	...	CSM Brown
Martin Garfield	...	Argentinian soldier
Serena Gordon	...	Phyllida
James Griffiths	...	Surgeon
Brian Hall	...	Squandron Leader Wentworth
Victoria Hasted	...	Nurse Wendy
Paul Higgins	...	Saltemarsh
Dan Hildebrand	...	Prothero
George Irving	...	Tug
Arbel Jones	...	Welsh Lady
Charles Lamb	...	Elderly man
Steven Law	...	Cabby
Andrew Livingston	...	Young doctor (as Andrew Livingstone)
Edward Lyon	...	RAMC Lieutenant Colonel
Maggie McCarthy	...	Nurse Mary
Iain McColl	...	Colour Sergeant
Andrew McCulloch	...	Padre Maj. Alistair Tolly
Marian McLoughlin	...	Mandy
Ian Michie	...	Fraser
Charles Millham	...	The Noble Lord
Felicity Montagu	...	Tricia
Francisco Morales	...	Argentinian soldier
Angela Morant	...	Maj. Newman
Wendy Nottingham	...	Mrs. Prothero
Richard Owens	...	RAF officer
Stewart Porter	...	O'Rourke
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Major (Rehabilitation Center)
Edward Rawle-Hicks	...	Lt. Peter Fyshe
Edwin Richfield	...	Group Captain
Clive Russell	...	Terry Knapp
Sean Scanlan	...	Welsh Man
Roy Spencer	...	Hospital chaplain
Liza Tarbuck	...	Angie
Alan White	...	Yeoman Warder
Mark Williams	...	Lumpy
Mark Wing-Davey	...	Adjutant Stewart Inglis

Runtime:

USA:115 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA (2008)

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)

The battle between harsh reality and perceived views when a nation turns its back on those who know

Firstly, I must try to answer the other reviewer from Bute's problem with the chronology of the piece; I think the crux of the film is to show the battle scene at the end, principally because it shows us the man we've just spent nearly 2 hours with and empathised with and admired his bravery for surviving everything he endures post conflict, actually got his near fatal wound that wins him a VC by being very foolhardy rather than brave in the actual conflict.

The whole point of Lawrence is he is a man who loved being a soldier, as several reviewers have pointed out, and indeed as the character himself points out in relation to the difference between him and his friend played by Paul Rhys, but throughout he has to face up to the schoolboy fantasies of being a warrior, no doubt instilled in him by his Wing Commander Father's tales, with the harsh reality of the Falklands and the equally harsh after care he endured-which the film captures with spectacular heart rending results.

A valid point which is made is when he attends the ceremony for the soldiers and had to sit there in his wheelchair and miss all of it as he cannot see passed those standing. "Its as if they'd rather we didn't come back" he says bitterly. This is the main point of the film for me for, in reality after the conflict, the nation had changed their minds; no more flag waving patriotism as the boys set sail, they now decreed it to being nothing more than a publicity stunt for Thatcher, and was treated and derided as such, therefore seeing the reality of the dead or the wounded or indeed the fit and healthy returning soldiers was something they did not want to face as it was too stark to fit in with their views. The film, all too painfully shows Lawrence struggling to get people to understand his situation, his doctors, his family and his friends, his nurses, people who cannot come to terms because they didn't experience it.

It may have been a war that was made to win votes, but the soldiers involved fought it as if it was just as important as the second world war, because in conflict there are no half measures.

So ultimately, the film's other tragedy is borne from this notion; that no one will understand the Falkland vets, that they are an embarrassing real spectre at the feast who don't fit in with the widely held view that it was all a bit of a farce. This view is clearly held by the annoying middle class couple to whom Lawrence relates his story too, as they discuss later what a war hero should be, they find the boys lacking, because they don't perceive the Falklands to have been heroic, they agree with the vote winning ideal. Therefore Lawrence will be inextricably linked to a man who, as the restaurant owner Tug, says to him in the pre conflict scenes, "Isn't really your friend" simply because of a shared experience and the fact that only veterans truly understand each other, when in actual fact they are both all too aware that they had such wildly dissimilar experiences of Tumbledown, yet at least they were both there.

Full praise to Charles 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' Wood for creating another stark ant war reality for the modern age and praise to too Colin Firth, the finest actor of his generation, giving the most amazing performance here as Lawrence.

This aired 20 years ago, when I was a boy of 8 and some scenes still haunt me that it was amazing to see them again now memory perfect when watching the DVD.

A must see if ever there was one.