Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26864 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-01-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 90 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
In the politically charged atmosphere of Margaret Thatcher's Britain, newspaper reporters are hungry for the big story that will make them stars and their newspapers famous. Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne in his first starring role) is one such reporter for the London Daily Dispatch. A top member of Parliament (Ian Bannen) is the focus of the latest political scandal: he has been photographed with a prostitute who is known to have Russian contacts. Nick barrels into the scandal full-bore, despite warnings from his mentor (a deft Denholm Elliott). Nick receives a tip that makes his story a front-page item and he quickly becomes a celebrity himself. But as he soon discovers, there is much more to the story than he imagined. Director David Drury (Prime Suspect 3) keeps this highly complex, John le Carré-esque story moving swiftly. The clues are hard to find at times but it is not because the story is told unclearly; rather, the filmmakers have decided that audiences can think for themselves and piece together the information along with Nick. Defence of the Realm overlooked and truly entertaining thinking person's film. --Doug Thomas

Synopsis
DEFENCE OF THE REALM is a gripping thriller that stars Gabriel Byrne, Greta Scacchi, and Denholm Elliott. Nick Mullen (Byrne), a young reporter for a national daily newspaper, is beginning to drift into a cynical and bored routine when he suddenly stumbles across a political cover-up. With the aid of his colleague, Vernon (Elliott), and his attractive secretary, Nina (Scacchi), Nick sets out on a dangerous journey to uncover hidden truths.

Customer Reviews

An absolute cracker - as good as they come
The showbiz adage of 'never work with children or animals' was, within the British film industry, extended to 'never work with children, animals or Denholm Elliot'. He was, rightly, labelled a 'scene stealer' and with his passing, one of the 'true stars' were lost.

Gabrielle Byrne and Greta Scacchi star in this 1984 UK film, but the film, despite featuring a young Robbie Coltrane ( Cracker ), is forever Elliot's. Massively underrated, this film is a powerful indictment of the true 'powers that be'. Governments come and governments go, but the 'real' powerbrokers, along with the 'internal workings' remain in place, rumbling on.

Is this a political thriller, a journalistic thriller, a shadowy thriller even - scary too, maybe ?. Probably all and more besides. It's very taut, very fast, very complex and, perhaps, very true to life ( the scary bit ). Underhand and double dealing are rife and little mercy is shown to the designated stooges. Elliot, as Vernon Bayliss, suffers no fools here and realising the enormity of the truth and confiding in nobody, pays a heavy price for his refusal to be swept along with the tide of seemingly incontrovertible proofs. Perhaps Fox Mulder saw this film and coined the phrase 'trust no-one' from Elliots' performance.

What is sure, though, is that a field day awaits conspiracy theorists who watch this. There is no sex, no violence and no profanity and I defy anyone to watch this film only once.

Rates With "The Parallax View"
A conspiracy film on par with the best, set in the UK during the Reagan/Thatcher era cold war, and as timely now as then. It has the barely controlled paranoid feel of the earlier American "The Parallax View", but the sinister agendas are more specific and topical to the day in which this one was made -- the mid-eighties US/Soviet nuclear brinksmanship over Europe. Any revival of the political thriller (long overdue, I think, considering all that has transpired in the past few years) needs to include this at festival screenings. I've heard a remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" is in the offing, in which case "Defense of the Realm" is due for rediscovery. Oh yeah, almost impossible to buy in the States these days. Just not Big or Flattering enough, I guess.

Please let this be completely made up
I'm so pleased that some people have already written positive reviews of this film. It's one of my favourites and not because I'm a Scottish journalist (it doesn't exactly show us in an entirely positive light). It just shows how following a single loose thread can lead to something awesome. Referring to those previous reviews, the story is convoluted because it should be. Controversy and conspiracy aren't straightforward (not that I'm pretending to be a veteran but just think of your family politics and imagine it as a kind of case study for everything; every single person adds their own confusion). If anyone has been put off by the thought of there being no sex I advise you to keep a look out for what's in the background and perhaps you can be content with a truckload of sexism. For everyone else I advise you sit back and let yourself be pulled into this gripping tale. Once you're finished you can contemplate the thought of the Executive Producer now being a Lord.