Defence of the Realm (1986)
Country: GB
Technical: col 96m
Director: David Drury
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott
Synopsis:
A journalist gets involved in political skullduggery thanks to a Deep Throat-style source.
Review:
Slickly made and well-acted political thriller, a scaled back version of the American article of the kind that would soon erupt onto television with the likes of Edge of Darkness. At the time this modest little picture seemed like the hope of the British Film Industry, though in hindsight it was merely one of its intermittent - and more successful - attempts to compete on equal terms with Hollywood. However, it was Gabriel Bynre's breakthrough film, leading ultimately to Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects. Less of a point-scorer than its successor, For Queen and Country, it is content to raise the question of freedom of information without supplying the answer, until the conventional thriller twist, which too patly places violent oppression on the opposite scale of total freedom.
Country: GB
Technical: col 96m
Director: David Drury
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott
Synopsis:
A journalist gets involved in political skullduggery thanks to a Deep Throat-style source.
Review:
Slickly made and well-acted political thriller, a scaled back version of the American article of the kind that would soon erupt onto television with the likes of Edge of Darkness. At the time this modest little picture seemed like the hope of the British Film Industry, though in hindsight it was merely one of its intermittent - and more successful - attempts to compete on equal terms with Hollywood. However, it was Gabriel Bynre's breakthrough film, leading ultimately to Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects. Less of a point-scorer than its successor, For Queen and Country, it is content to raise the question of freedom of information without supplying the answer, until the conventional thriller twist, which too patly places violent oppression on the opposite scale of total freedom.
Country: GB
Technical: col 96m
Director: David Drury
Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, Denholm Elliott
Synopsis:
A journalist gets involved in political skullduggery thanks to a Deep Throat-style source.
Review:
Slickly made and well-acted political thriller, a scaled back version of the American article of the kind that would soon erupt onto television with the likes of Edge of Darkness. At the time this modest little picture seemed like the hope of the British Film Industry, though in hindsight it was merely one of its intermittent - and more successful - attempts to compete on equal terms with Hollywood. However, it was Gabriel Bynre's breakthrough film, leading ultimately to Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects. Less of a point-scorer than its successor, For Queen and Country, it is content to raise the question of freedom of information without supplying the answer, until the conventional thriller twist, which too patly places violent oppression on the opposite scale of total freedom.