The Unknown Soldier

This fine mini-series, directed by David Drury (THE CRY, RHODES, and PRIME SUSPECT 3) is a touching and thought-provoking depiction of the futility of the Great War, a slaughter which wiped out a generation, and changed the role of women forever. Written by Peter Barwood (TV series HEARTBEAT) it includes the cruelty of the courts-martial and executions for desertion, the further losses from the the post-war influenza outbreak, the blurring of class distinctions, and the disappointment of women who must relinquish their wartime jobs to the returning men. Beautifully and sensitively acted by Juliet Aubrey as Carey's strong-willed daughter Sophia in one of her best roles since GO NOW and STILL CRAZY. Sophia plays a Nurse who has suffered her own losses and feels very strongly for the disabled men as they and their families try to adjust to normal life. She falls for one of her patients, the enigmatic Unknown Soldier (Gary Mavers, PEAK PRACTICE's hunk Dr. Attwood) found shell-shocked and wandering naked in No-Man's Land. The men call him Angel, as he saved the life of another officer, but who is he really? Is he an Officer or an enlisted man ? In their efforts to find his real identity he faces the horrors of electric shock therapy, accusations of malingering, threats of being returned immediately to the fighting at the front, court-martial as a deserter, and conflicting witnesses including a couple desperately claiming him as their son. Compared to the epic THE English PATIENT (beautifully filmed but too Hollywood) this is more grittily realistic. Mavers' performance is wooden, and Aubrey is altogether too modern and earnest in her commitment to those men (why is she attracted to Angel?) but the cast includes familiar British faces Frederick Treves, Pip Torrens and Tom Chadbon who are as excellent as ever.

sucked, sucked, oh dear God this movie sucked and it sucked bad. It was filmed like a soap opera(or like a home movie), and the actors keep looking up at the camera. I've seen high school productions that weren't this bad. That was the first clue that this was a very low budget cheaply made film.

1st- why was the nurse going around having sex with wounded soldiers in the hospital in the first place.

2nd- The main character lost his memory, and yet he fell in love with his nurse. (despite the fact that he knew that she was going around and sleeping with the patients in hospital). He isn't shell shocked! ! ! He is just stupid, unless his #1 goal in life is to catch V.D.

3RD- Its war!, so why is everyone on the battlefield so squeaky clean and hair is perfect. Those uniforms looked as if they just left the dry cleaners.

4th- No real battle scenes, just a few glimpses of them in a trench as you hear bombs and machine gun fire.

did adults really make this movie? Sure as hell don't look like it

this movie must be super insulting to the good people of Great Brittian, to see their proud soldiers and dedicated nurses depicted the way this movie depicts them. This is an outrage(and I'm not even British)

I watched this as a 12y.o when it was first released and remember it vividly. I rewatch it on occasion and think it is well acted and accurate.

I watched this film for free on my local PBS network, It was part of a series called Exxon Moble MasterPiece Theater The Previews looked intriguing~ So I watched both parts of this mini-series believing it was going to be great. Well It wasn't. The Lead charactor wonders around a WWI battlefield with amnesia and falls in love with a nurse who is taking care of him(I quickly wondered if this film would've been made at all, had it not been for the critical success of "The English Patient"-which had a very similar theme - for the record I didn't like "The English Patient" either).The sets are wonderful,and the customes are near perfect- and the music score isn't all that bad. Dont waste you time on this film.

The subject of shell-shock is rarely touched upon in so realistic a fashion. Also, the class distinctions in England are made quite plain in this presentation. If you were an enlisted man during this period of time, 1914-1918, you did not receive the same consideration in a court of justice as an officer in the same army. This policy, I believe continued even up to World War II (1939-1945).

As for medicine, little was known on how to treat shell-shocked men. The administering of electric shock was graphically portrayed. It was not a gentle therapy and many people suffered during this treatment.

All the actors and actresses performed wonderfully. And as someone mentioned, the costumes and scenery appeared very authentic for that time. Oh, in spite of their dedication and intelligence, women were still second class citizens.

All in all, I consider the film a very, very, good one.