King & Country

Very well directed as usual by Joseph Losey, but the script underwhelmed me. To give some examples, Hamp's character is too conveniently dumb and unaffected, while much of the trial is theatrical and emotional to the point of dulling the arguments (blunt as they already are); the parallel ordeal with the rat is a rather lazy attempt at allegory; and there's an air of predictability. Watch the American "The Execution of Private Slovik", a much better film.

Em honra do centenário de Leo McKern. Retrato magistral da perversidade do exército e do império britânico, aqueles que lutam para encontrar o subtexto homossexual devem prestar atenção no diálogo inicial entre Bogarde e Courtney - passei boa parte do mesmo achando que ele estava sendo acusado de manter intercurso com outro soldado, isso era um habitual do cinema inglês naqueles idos por conta da homossexualidade ainda ser considerada crime na Inglaterra. Box Versátil A Primeira Guerra

Tom Courtenay gives his working-class best as the doomed soldier. Still, the origins as a stage play are still there, and I think the production was probably done on the cheap.

Put together in an unusual way which doesn't quite work, it adds little the genre. But the performances are compelling enough and the underlying feeling that everyone is going slightly shell shocked was effective.

This is one of those films where the characters hash and rehash the film's point in an endless series of conversations --nothing is left unsaid or without underlining. The ending is meant to be devastating but comes across like a period at the end of a very long sentence.