Dossier confidenziale

Defence of the Realm is a slick British thriller, it's done in the style of John Le Carre. It's no surprise that it won a host of awards, it is exciting, enthralling, and superbly acted. The writing does perhaps lack some of the intricacies of Le Carre, the most notable perhaps being the ending, which was the only element I didn't particularly like.

Gabriel Byrne is terrific, very charismatic, and well suited to the part. He's in great company, with a host of British talent, Denholm Elliot in particular is superb.

It has of course dated a little, but it stands up so well twenty plus years later. 7/10

Democratic governments are said to work in the public interest. All well and good. However, when that government decides to work in secret, then it becomes an enemy, not only to the people it purports to work for, but is contrary to the spirit of democracy. This is the premise to this film entitled " Defense of the Realm." In this story, our hero Nicholas Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) is an inquisitive newspaper reporter who stumbles across a sensitive story involving the cover-up murder of a school boy. The lad's death is hushed up by government authorities and involves a prominent cabinet official. The case is ultra secret so that when a Parliament official seeks to inquire into the death of the school boy, those who want to keep it from being re-opened, first seek to scandalize him, then discredit the first newsman who helps him, then anyone else who gets involved. After his colleague is found dead, Mullen takes up the challenge of exposing his friend's murder and soon finds himself threatened, then targeted for assassination. The movie is stark drama and with the aid of exceptional actors like Denholm Elliott, Ian Bannen and Robbie Coltrane produces an exciting and heart thumping atmosphere. A fine film and highly recommended as a late night thriller. Excellent! ****

If ever any one was in doubt that democratic governments may not be averse to using the occasional dirty tricks then this film is an eye opener. Based around a busy news paper office this is the story of one mans crusade to make sure a scandal involving a cabinet minister is not pushed under the carpet. The story is full of twists and turns as our intrepid hero gets the bit between his teeth but the powers that be haul in him and judge for yourself the meaning of their words. A must for any one into political thrillers.

This is a wonderfully moody piece, featuring the magnificently brooding Gabriel Byrne as a journo on the trail of sinister conspiracies.

Dark, seedy and washed out, with a wealth of British stars, following an intricately woven thread of plot, this is a great example of old-fashioned, restrained British film.

It seemed quite promising, but was hard to follow in places, not helped by one or two outdoor scenes not transforming well onto a TV screen. I'd recorded it, so on several occasions was able to rewind to have another go at understanding it. It might help if I was to watch the entire film again from start to finish, but I can't be bothered. As I understand it, a youth fleeing from the police clambers over a very nasty looking fence onto the runway of an American air base and gets killed by an aircraft that's landing with a nuclear bomb on board. This precipitates an emergency exodus from the base. Cue cover-up, investigated by local MP who gets set up, leading to investigation by reporter.

Byrne does well as the reporter, but as is often the case Denholm Elliott impresses the most. Greta Scacchi is very bland.