Resurrected

Released by: Twilight Time Releasing
Released on: June 2014.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: David Thewlis, Rudi Davis, Tom Bell, Rita Tushingham, Christopher Fulford
Year: 1989
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The Movie:

“South Atlantic wind blows
Ice from a dying creed
I see no glory
When will we be free?”

Those lyrics are from “This is England,” a song by The Clash that can be found on their much-maligned 1985 album Cut the Crap. The lines are a reference to the Falklands War, a brief military conflict between Great Britain and Argentina that occurred in the late spring to the early summer of 1982. Commentators for the war like to quote the clever comment by the great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (his famously scathing description of the war was as “a fight between two bald men over a comb”) but The Clash's sentiments reflect the political consequences of the entire affair. Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party would capitalize on their swift military victory and their success in the following year's general election was all but assured.

There are moments throughout Resurrected where we catch a glimpse of this jingoistic sentiment and director Paul Greengrass effectively utilizes it as an ironic counterpoint to his gloomy and depressing drama. The film, which was inspired by a real-life case, concerns Kevin Deakin (David Thewlis, in his first role), a soldier who disappears during one of the final battles of the Falklands War and is thought to be dead. The film opens with his friends and family mourning him in their village church, where he is celebrated as a hero who sacrificed his life for his country. It turns out that Kevin is very much alive and suffering from amnesia; he can't remember what happened in that concluding battle and is even unaware that the war has ended. His emergence 48 days after the war's conclusion immediately raises red flags but his superiors in the military feel that to pursue the issue would lead to a scandal; an official inquiry is speedily resolved and he's acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Kevin returns home to his friends and his family and is initially greeted with a warm welcome. His parents (played by Tom Bell and Rita Tushingham) are thrilled to have him back, and so is his girlfriend Julie (Rudi Davies). Things quickly turn sour, however, as journalists start to ask the obvious question: did Kevin deliberately desert his post during battle? Kevin starts to suffer from terrifying wartime visions and he becomes moody and withdrawn. Relations quickly become strained with his family and Julie comes so distraught by his behavior that she leaves him for another boy. Kevin finds that his fellow soldiers are hostile to him; he is particularly harassed by Slavern (an excellent Christopher Fulford), who feels that Kevin's actions have brought disgrace to their platoon.

Greengrass is known these days as having helmed a series of kinetic action pictures (The Bourne Supremacy, Green Zone and Captain Phillips are among some of his recent work) but in this, his feature film debut, we're a far cry from shaky-cam fistfights. Greengrass's previous experience had been in television and Resurrected has the look and feel of a TV movie; there are some clunky sequences that betray the director's inexperience behind the camera. That being said, the real strength of this film is in the story that it tells (credit must go to the excellent screenplay by Martin Allen). The film is particularly commendable in the way that it resists easy characterization; although Slavern is obviously set up as the antagonist among Kevin's platoon, there is a significant scene that shows him suffering from horrific nightmares that were likewise inspired by his own experiences on the battlefield. And yet in a later scene, we see him cheering to images of Margaret Thatcher on a television set. It's just one clever instance of the way that Resurrected complicates the official narrative of the Falklands War as a British victory by exploring the very real psychological consequences of the soldiers involved.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Twilight Time's release of Resurrected on blu-ray offers a 1080p transfer of the film in its 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The aforementioned television aesthetic means that the image is nothing spectacular; the softness of the transfer seems to have more to do with the way in which it was shot rather than any damages to the negative. The film looks very good and there are no glaring imperfections.

The film is presented in an English 2.0 DTS-HD audio track. It sounds very good, although the soundtrack is a muted and unexciting affair. When the action gets loud (such as in Kevin's hallucination sequences) the sound can get a bit distorted, but again this appears to be an issue with the original audio track. There's no real damage to report on this front.

Twilight Time have assembled a nice series of extras for this release. The first is an 18 minute interview with director Paul Greengrass, who gives a lot of great anecdotes about the film. A 16 minute interview with David Thewlis is similarly rewarding and worth a watch. Both of these men look back on their experience on the film fondly. This being a Twilight Time release, there's an Isolated Music & Effects track; John Keane's somber score is mixed low in the main soundtrack but it comes out loud and clear when you toggle on this audio option on your remote. Finally, Julie Kirgo offers excellent liner notes in an attractive booklet.

The Final Word:

Paul Greengrass would go on to bigger and more stylish things in the future but he's always been a very political director from the start. Twilight Time's blu-ray faithfully reproduces Resurrected's lackluster color palette and sound-design; it's a good release of a film that doesn't necessarily
look that great. That being said, content-wise it's a strong picture and comes highly recommended.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!