Murphy started out in factual film making in the 60s; this was one of his first dramas. He was blessed with a great cast and script. (Lenny James' Save Me one of his recent successes.) Bowker started out teaching young people with learning difficulties, including autism (good background for The A Word and Marvellous). Started writing for TV in the early 90s. As far as I can tell he had no particularly relevant war experience, making the authenticity and credibility of this mini-series all the more remarkable. Definitely worthy of inclusion in William Boyd's list of worthy war films. It's brilliant. I can't get over it.
Jimmy Nesbitt, Stephen Graham and Warren Browne are bonded by common experience in Basra, and for various reasons, they all return there. The flashes of humour are welcome, and the back-at-home scenes are perhaps what really makes it (think The Best Years of Our Lives updated), and where Bowker excels anyway. But then the other stories start to take shape - the doctor (Lubna Azabal, The Honorable Woman, The Little Drummer Girl) who comes to England and her husband (Igal Naor, also The Honorable Woman, Riviera), the Security Forces founder (Nonso Anozie), the friendly Iraqi pizza maker (Lewis Alsamari).
It's often shot very close (by David Odd) and editor Victoria Boydell keeps us there, but also pulls off some fabulous montages to music. And the action scenes are vivid and exciting. It was filmed in Morocco, of course.
Graham makes a great impression. He seems utterly credible in the midst of combat scenes - in fact here he's really the most at home. Loved the scene in which he appears more and more a threat to an oncoming tank and ends up having to strip entirely to prove he's not.
Peter's script usefully addresses several themes about the after-effects of war: the conflict that remains within the country, the corruption, and the increasing fundamentalism, perfectly depicted in the scene in which Nesbitt is only allowed to communicate with Azabal through an interpreter when they all know she can speak perfect English. It's a gutsy, gripping and ultimately tragic conclusion, with Odd catching the action in an almost documentary style. 'Occupation', it turns out, is about what job they all have, and why they have it. And why they were there in the first place:
'At least now I know what I'm risking my life for.'
'What happened to you?'
'I went to Iraq. Why? What happened to you?'
It doesn't read as well on the page but to hear Graham deliver this ending is truly great and moving.
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