I'm glad I stuck with this movie, due to various viewers' admonitions to be patient. At the outset, Attenborough's character is drawn so broadly as the paragon of the rigid, by-the-book, stiff upper lip British Sergeant Major that one is sure he is being set up as the fall guy. Also the setting - a British colonial country in the throes of revolution - makes us sure that the usual anticolonial, pro-revolutionary tone will be maintained. On the contrary, expectations are overturned, and the movie turns out to be a very even-handed and intelligently written drama. Attenborough's character is one streotype; the other is Flora Robson's portrayal of the liberal, cigarette smoking Labour MP spouting the usual leftist nostrums.
The cast is super - Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Cecil Parker (briefly), Mia Farrow, and a host of male character actors one sees often in British war movies.
The viewer's interest is maintained throughout, wondering how the various characters will deal with the situation. It could have been made into a tragedy, but the relatively lighthearted conclusion prevents it from attaining that level. It's a film of its times, but very much worth watching even today.
The cast is super - Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Cecil Parker (briefly), Mia Farrow, and a host of male character actors one sees often in British war movies.
The viewer's interest is maintained throughout, wondering how the various characters will deal with the situation. It could have been made into a tragedy, but the relatively lighthearted conclusion prevents it from attaining that level. It's a film of its times, but very much worth watching even today.