| Tumbledown | |
|---|---|
BBC DVD Cover |
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| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Charles Wood |
| Directed by | Richard Eyre |
| Starring | Colin Firth · Paul Rhys · David Calder |
| Composer(s) | Richard Hartley |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Richard Broke |
| Editor(s) | Ken Pearce |
| Cinematography | Andrew Dunn |
| Running time | 113 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One |
| Original airing | 30 May 1988 |
Tumbledown is a 1988 BBC Television drama film set during the Falklands War.
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The film centres on the experiences of Robert Lawrence MC (played by Colin Firth), an officer of the Scots Guards during the Falklands Campaign of 1982. 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. He then must learn to adjust to his new disability.
The film sparked enormous controversy when first aired (1988), in part because it conveyed the flat indifference shown by government, society, and ordinary people to the returning wounded from the Falkands War - this content forms much of the story, 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 stunning flashback scene toward the end which shows him exulting at the top of Mount Tumbledown. 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.
Lead actor Colin Firth is reported to have said that the right hated the movie and the left hated the film, because it did not conform to any fixed ideology.
Firth was nominated for a BAFTA TV Best Actor Award and won a Royal TV Society Best Actor Award for the role.
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