Defence of the Realm reviews
Review by on 23 Sep 2009
Cambridge feels like a particularly apt location in which to view this 1985 film, since the imagined scenario is a government cover-up surrounding a nuclear installation in the Fens. The opening sequence shows a car chase across the bleak East Anglian landscape and sets the mood for a sparsely tense thriller that takes us to the heart of the British establishment.
The Kafkaesque corridors of Whitehall in which the hero Nick Mullen (played by Gabriel Byrne) ultimately confronts his nemesis of secretive government are chilling indeed, but I couldn’t help wishing that the hero himself had come across as a more likeable individual. Byrne’s portrayal of Nick alternates between the cocky career journalist and the idealistic champion of civil liberties, without uniting the two personas into a convincing whole. So this felt a bit like a film without a hero. Maybe that is the point. In this post-Cold War age, with freedom of information enshrined in law (since 2000), it may sometimes be hard to see who is on which side; so it is altogether a lonelier and less clubbable world.
The bonhomie of Fleet Street, with its world of print unions working hot metal presses, and journalists enjoying long liquid lunches, is itself shown nostalgically (as if on the way out) in this film. Denholm Elliott’s portrayal of Mullen’s colleague Vernon Bayliss, a veteran reporter and ex-communist, is telling. Vernon’s day may be past, but his world is portrayed as in some ways preferable.
LUCY LEWIS
Cambridge feels like a particularly apt location in which to view this 1985 film, since the imagined scenario is a government cover-up surrounding a nuclear installation in the Fens. The opening sequence shows a car chase across the bleak East Anglian landscape and sets the mood for a sparsely tense thriller that takes us to the heart of the British establishment. The Kafkaesque corridors of Whitehall in which the hero Nick Mullen (played by Gabriel Byrne) ultimately confronts his nemesis of secretive government are chilling indeed, but I couldn’t help wishing that the hero himself had come across as a more likeable individual. Byrne’s portrayal of Nick alternates between the cocky career journalist and the idealistic champion of civil liberties, without uniting the two personas into a convincing whole. So this felt a bit like a film without a hero. Maybe that is the point. In this post-Cold War age, with freedom of information enshrined in law (since 2000), it may sometimes be hard to see who is on which side; so it is altogether a lonelier and less clubbable world.
The bonhomie of Fleet Street, with its world of print unions working hot metal presses, and journalists enjoying long liquid lunches, is itself shown nostalgically (as if on the way out) in this film. Denholm Elliott’s portrayal of Mullen’s colleague Vernon Bayliss, a veteran reporter and ex-communist, is telling. Vernon’s day may be past, but his world is portrayed as in some ways preferable.
LUCY LEWIS
Review by on 22 Sep 2009
25 years on and still one of the best ever British conspiracy thrillers. Of especial interest to a Cambridge audience because of the local connections: 'RAF Milden Heath' a thinly concealed Mildenhall, other plot references to Brandon and Thetford. Spot the local sign-posts illuminated by the light of car headlamps!
25 years on and still one of the best ever British conspiracy thrillers. Of especial interest to a Cambridge audience because of the local connections: 'RAF Milden Heath' a thinly concealed Mildenhall, other plot references to Brandon and Thetford. Spot the local sign-posts illuminated by the light of car headlamps!
Film details
Defence of the Realm
THE SPYING GAME: BRITISH CINEMA AND THE SECRET STATE
Director: David Drury
Actor: Gabriel Byrne
Actor: Greta Scacchi
Actor: Denholm Elliott
Actor: Gabriel Byrne
Actor: Greta Scacchi
Actor: Denholm Elliott
UK, 1985.
96 mins.
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