KING AND COUNTRY
UK, 1965, 86 minutes, Black, and white.
Dirk Bogarde, Tom Courteney, Leo Mc Kern, Barry Foster, Peter Copley.
Directed by Joseph Losey.
King and Country dates from Joseph Losey's new creative period, after his years in Britain and his films being subjected to producer's interference. This film comes after The Servant and is one of a series of four films that Losey made with Dirk Bogarde. (The other two are Modesty Blasé and Accident,}
Losey's impact lessened after Accident, but more recently received critical and popular acclaim with The Go- Between. Dirk Bogarde, always a reliable actor, enhanced his reputation with his Losey films and went on to Darling for John Schlesinger and The Damned and Death In Venice for Visconti, King and Country tells a short story of a young soldier, typical of the ordinary man, who is trapped by pressure and, knowing nothing else, walks away from it and is branded as a criminal, tried and shot - for morale purposes. Although the setting is war (but there are no war sequences), the film is wider in its scope and the ordinary man is offered the equivalent of "King and Country" as the reason for being asked to do the impossible. As the ordinary man, Hamp, Tom Courteney is excellent. A compellingly plain film.
1. What tone did the title give the film? What was the point of the camera's ranging over the war-memorial statuary at the opening with the consequent explosion?
2. Did the film presume patriotic sentiments in the audience and then proceed to criticise them or was the film made for an anti-war audiences?
3. Was Hamp presented sympathetically on his first appearance or was he presented as a deserter who deserved a trial - or something of both?
4. How typical of Everyman was Hamp? How intelligent was he - how did the information about his trade, marriage, volunteering build up a picture of his character? What of his life in the trenches, his horror of the war, the death of associates?
5. How did the continual cross-cutting to the group of young soldiers contribute to the mood of the film and the audience's awareness of what Hamp was like as a soldier? Impressions of the group - their youth, the rat-catching, the trial and stoning of the rat?
6. How did the trench setting (and the black and white photography and angle shots), the squalor and the continual rain make comment on the war and desertion issues of the film?
7. Was Hargreaves at all sympathetic to Hamp when he first interviewed him, or was he there just because of duty? Did Hargreaves actually mask feelings with "duty"? Hid Hargreaves really understand Hamp?
8. How fair was the trial? Was too much made of the desertion by holding such a trial or was it necessary for discipline?
9. Were the members of the tribunal fair? What pre-conceived ideas about desertion and fear did they have?
10. What did the interrogation of Captain O'Sullivan reveal about doctors' and authorities' understanding people, about presumptions of cowardice? Did Captain O'Sullivan act in an appropriate way towards Hemp?
11. Did Webb give fair evidence in trying to protect Hamp? Was the prosecutor right in demolishing the effectiveness of his testimony?
12. After listening to Scrap, Hargreaves and the trial, can you understand why Hamp walked away? Was it desertion or merely technical desertion? Did Hargreaves really sum up the trial in his final speech?
13. Was the verdict fair? Why did the Higher Command overrule the mercy plea? Is there any case for such disciplinary measures being used to reinforce morale in difficult situations?
14. How well handled was the sequence where Hamp was informed of his execution and asked which day it was? Why didn't Hargreaves stay with him?
15. Was their ironic comment on the situation in showing the officers' mess, the wine and the conversation effective? How?
16. Was there truth in Hargreaves' conversation with the colonel about the decision?
17. Why did the Captain let the man go into camp with the rum? What did this achieve? Was the religious scene effective, with Hamp's uncomprehending expression at the piety and vomiting after communicating? What comment was being made?
18. How moving was the execution (and Hamp's platoon shooting him)? How ironic was it that Hargreaves killed him? What was the force behind Hamp's apology for not being dead?
19. What comment did the next-of-kin letter make?
20. Was the film sentimental in its treatment of Hamp? Was it one-sided in any direction, or did it present a real situation fairly? Was it a necessary comment about the conduct of war?
