Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
I hunted this one down after having it enthusiastically recommended by Edgar Wright on the Empire Podcast (as recommended to him by Martin Scorsese), then having Quentin Tarantino repeat that vote of confidence with the Pure Cinema Podcast guys.
It's a fascinating bit of post(?)-colonial filmmaking, about a siege of the Sergeant's Mess in an unnamed African colony which has undergone a revolutionary change of government. Regimental Sgt. Major Lauderdale (a brilliant and unrecognizable Richard Attenborough) borders caricature of stiff upper lip British pluck.
I'm a little skeptical of the view that the film is steeped in imperial nostalgia, because it feels to me quite carefully ambiguous, neither lionizing nor condemning anyone. Lauderdale is sometimes a hero, sometimes a figure of fun -- mocked by the rather more world-weary soldiers of the regiment -- and, in the end, an illustration of the limitations of his approach in the face of realpolitik. The film targets that gulf between the images of empire and its realities and gently mocks the glorification of militarism.
An excellent and under-seen war film.