Tumbledown | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama |
Written by | Charles Wood |
Directed by | Richard Eyre |
Starring | |
Composer | Richard Hartley |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producer | Richard Broke [1] |
Cinematography | Andrew Dunn |
Editor | Ken Pearce |
Running time | 113 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | BBC1 |
Original release | 31 May 1988 [2] |
Tumbledown is a 1988 BBC Television drama film set during the Falklands War. Directed by Richard Eyre, it stars Colin Firth, Paul Rhys, and David Calder.
The film centres on the experiences of Robert Lawrence MC (played by Colin Firth), an officer of the Scots Guards during the Falklands War of 1982. [3] While fighting at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown, Lawrence is shot in the head by an Argentine sniper, and left paralysed on his left side. [4] He then must learn to adjust to his new disability.
The film sparked enormous controversy when first broadcast in 1988, in part because it conveyed the flat indifference shown by government, society and public to the returning wounded from the Falklands War; this content forms much of the story, [7] as Lawrence struggles to come to terms with his terrible injuries, and to face a life in which he cannot do the thing he is trained to do, the thing he loves: soldiering.
The film also triggered controversy by presenting an unvarnished portrait of the protagonist: for example, his joy in the brutalities of war and a flashback scene toward the end which shows him exulting at the top of Mount Tumbledown. [8] The film portrays Lawrence's love of the military life as much as it portrays his feelings of abandonment and bitterness as he tries to cope with his wounds, with little help from the government that sent him into battle. [9]
Lead actor Colin Firth is reported to have said that the political left and right hated the film because it did not conform to any fixed ideology. [10]
Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director.
Dame Julia Mary Walters, known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Fellowship, and a Golden Globe. Walters has been nominated twice for an Academy Award: once for Best Actress and once for Best Supporting Actress.
Colin Andrew Firth is an English actor. He was identified in the mid-1980s with the "Brit Pack" of rising young British actors, undertaking a challenging series of roles, including leading roles in A Month in the Country (1987), Tumbledown (1988) and Valmont (1989). His portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice led to widespread attention, and to roles in more prominent films such as The English Patient (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002), Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003), Richard Curtis's romantic comedy ensemble film Love Actually (2003), and the musical comedy Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! (2018)
Jim Broadbent is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film Iris (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for his leading role as Lord Longford in the television film Longford (2006). Broadbent received four BAFTA Film Award nominations and won for his performance in Moulin Rouge! (2001). He was also nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Sir Richard Charles Hastings Eyre is an English film, theatre, television and opera director.
The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and alleged jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship. The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio. It was aired again on BBC4, 1 December 2020, over 18 years after it was last transmitted.
Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017); with the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Paul Rhys is a Welsh theatre, television and film actor.
Peter Kosminsky is a British writer, director and producer. He has directed Hollywood movies such as White Oleander and television films like Warriors, The Government Inspector, The Promise, Wolf Hall and The State.
Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She is known for her performances as the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), as Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, as Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and as the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). Since 2019, she has portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).
An Ungentlemanly Act is a 1992 BBC television film about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.
Charles Gerald Wood was a playwright and scriptwriter for radio, television, and film. He lived in England.
Robert Alasdair Davidson Lawrence MC is a former British Army officer who was severely wounded while fighting in the Falklands War in 1982. He documented his experiences during and after the conflict in a book, co-written with his father, John Lawrence, entitled When the Fighting Is Over: A Personal Story of the Battle for Tumbledown Mountain and Its Aftermath. This was adapted into the controversial BBC television play Tumbledown in 1988.
Thomas George Hooper is a British-Australian filmmaker.
Andrew Buchan is an English stage and television actor known for his roles as Mark Latimer in the ITV drama Broadchurch (2013–17), as Scott Foster in the BBC political drama Party Animals (2007), as John Mercer in ITV drama series The Fixer (2008–09), and as William Garrow in BBC period drama Garrow's Law (2009–11).
A Perfect Spy is a BBC serial adaptation of John le Carré's 1986 spy novel A Perfect Spy which was aired on BBC2 and broadcast from 4 November to 16 December 1987. It follows the career of the British MI6 spy Magnus Pym from his early days as a schoolboy to his eventual disappearance as a suspected agent of the Czech secret service. The series was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries and the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 1988.
Iain Canning is an English film and television producer best known for producing the film The King's Speech (2010), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Picture and the BAFTA award for Best Film and Best British Film, and for executive producing television series Top of the Lake, which was nominated for an Emmy, BAFTA and Golden Globe award. He has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards and won 1, nominated for 5 BAFTAs and won 3, and nominated for 2 Emmy Awards and won 1.
The Hollow Crown is a series of British television film adaptations of William Shakespeare's history plays.
Charlotte Spencer is an English actress, dancer, and singer. She is known for playing the female lead in The Living and the Dead. Screen International magazine named her a Star of Tomorrow 2015.