Ken Loach's dark Iraq drama is let down by ponderous pacing and some ingenuous performances
After last year's buoyant comedy Looking for Eric, Ken Loach has turned this time to very dark subject matter, from which he has made a film which is a mix of conspiracy thriller and issue-led drama.
Mark Womack plays Fergus, a violent ex-army guy and one of the highly paid private security contractors in Iraq. Until 2009 private contractors had legal immunity privileges there, allowing them to shoot first and neglect to ask questions later.
Fergus returns to his native Liverpool for the funeral of Frankie, his childhood friend and fellow soldier of fortune, who has been killed in mysterious circumstances on "Route Irish", a notoriously dangerous roadway between Baghdad airport and the nearby fortified green zone.
For the first time, Fergus grasps how the death of a contractor is utterly without the consoling, cathartic...
After last year's buoyant comedy Looking for Eric, Ken Loach has turned this time to very dark subject matter, from which he has made a film which is a mix of conspiracy thriller and issue-led drama.
Mark Womack plays Fergus, a violent ex-army guy and one of the highly paid private security contractors in Iraq. Until 2009 private contractors had legal immunity privileges there, allowing them to shoot first and neglect to ask questions later.
Fergus returns to his native Liverpool for the funeral of Frankie, his childhood friend and fellow soldier of fortune, who has been killed in mysterious circumstances on "Route Irish", a notoriously dangerous roadway between Baghdad airport and the nearby fortified green zone.
For the first time, Fergus grasps how the death of a contractor is utterly without the consoling, cathartic...
- 5/19/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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