A recent film, set in Belfast in 1971, met with a mixed response from the small audience who attended. (Irish troubles not everyone's favourite bag?) Amongst various unprintable comments, we heard 'awful,' 'violent,' 'powerful,' and for myself, I would say 'arresting' - (possibly cardiac arresting!), but I would add, this was a superb portrayal of 'war, and the pity of war' (writes J. H.) Did 'the troubles' throw up any war poets? If not, think of this film as poetry in motion. Is violent and emotional turmoil worked out on the screen so very different from reading a war poem worked out on paper by Wilfred Owen? Shakespeare dealt with the same theme in Julius Caesar, as did the Greek tragedians centuries before, so nothing new there....so what's new in '71?

Well, it's a fast action suspense story...... but fast action thrillers usually have a hero, who lives to win the day. The main protagonist is soldier Gary, from Derbyshire, posted to Belfast. He is introduced to us visiting his young son against the rather unsettling backdrop of his children's home, an institution to which he must be returned, on time. A mirror image of his dad's prescribed life in the army. No cosy mum figure, and no cosy army comrades. Apart from when he chats to his son, Gary, (Jack O'Connell) has little dialogue. O'Connell plays him as not especially appealing, likeable or even memorable. He is Bob Dylan's 'Universal Soldier' doing a job. Unfortunately, the job gets him stuck on the wrong side of the Falls Road during a riot, with only a child to help him avoid the baying mob, made up in the greater part by child actors/extras hurling missiles and abuse. Terrifying! When the child is blown up by his own people, it is the soldier who goes into the blazing building to retrieve his dead body and grieves over it.

The majority of the dialogue is given to the Irish, whose accents are, to English ears, virtually incomprehensible. Martin McCann and Barry Keoghan are terrifying as Provos. Sean Harris, as an undercover officer, has all the noise and bluster lacking in the 'Universal Soldier.' He bullies the uncomprehending, and very English Commanding Officer (Sam Reid), out of his depth in a 'confused situation' (army-speak for all atrocities committed by accident or design).

Following his appalling ordeal (at great inconvenience to his unit), the last scene shows Gary, together with his son travelling on a bus through the peaceful Derbyshire countryside. Poetry in motion again. 'This was a man.' This was a film.

On a lighter note, our next film is Paddington on Monday, June 1. What fun! Join us at the Fourcroft, 7.30 for 8 pm. A pre-film supper may also be booked in advance. For more information, visit films4tenby.wordpress.com