So I give it 10 stars - as I write, rated 7.2 from 224 votes - this says it all.
If you have found your way here, and are thinking of watching this film, then don't think twice, regardless of your nationality (including Argentinian/Spanish/South American), this is a great film.
You can watch it with anyone from around 11 years old upwards - even with your granny, and everybody will enjoy the fully immersive experience, that introduces you to, and embeds you in....
... another way of living your life. A strange, yet not strange, life of Britishness in the deep South Atlantic. (so much so that afterwards, many Argentine soldiers talked of the culture shock of fighting for a land that they thought was Argentina, but possessed nothing of Argentina).
But this is NO 'slow build up to ten minutes of action'. 'Action' is pregnant in the air; it comes thick and fast, and the birth isn't easy.
Death is not pleasant at the best of times.... but when it's slow, and just a few feet away from you... yet somehow 'understandable', almost 'normal' (somebody to avoid as you dash for cover... yet not notice because you're dashing for cover).
History itself dealt the perfect cards for this movie, with the threads of island life portrayed in parallel to the bombshell 'last minute knowledge' that an invading force was just a few hours away....
... and the fight was going to be deadly.
You can believe the almost incomprehensible scenario of a foreign power 'actually invading British territory in 1982'.
The shock of this is temporarily diminished, due to the island's size and location (though those thoughts are quickly cast aside by the real life protocols mixed with real life 'tea and cakes'.)
How would the Governor react? The Royal Marines? The population?
We immediately learn the answer to those questions.
The tension ramps up, and the viewer is carried on a wave that is most definitely going to crash.
Everybody knows the conclusion to the Falklands war... but we don't know how this story will end.
Engrossing, intimate, comical, enlightening, violent, sad, joyous, gritty. This movie has it all in spades (along with a pre-fight speech that is all the more awesome by the fact that it was actually delivered to the troops).
At the end (in the wrap)... well... look into the eyes of Major Mike Norman (Bob Peck)... what horrors did he see, when he went back, to re-take the Falklands.
After watching this film.... don't delay.... make sure you watch 'The Falklands Play' to discover what was happening in London at the same time.
Enjoy and reflect.
