For Queen & Country

"For Queen and Country" sticks Washington in the center of a bunch of characters as a deadpan British vet of the Falkland Islands war whose come home to find less than a hero's welcome. The film spends the first third fleshing out everyone but the centerpiece and then doesn't give him any depth as he stumbles through his thick cockney mumblings from one costar to the next. The film doesn't really begin to move until close to the end when it winds up and down in about 20 minutes with a less than desirable conclusion. Given the typically British austerity of the film, an illfocused and bleak story, an almost complete absence of passion, and what are by film standards rather sublunary events with no payoff in the end, this flick was barely tolerable. Not recommendable. (C-)

Note - I watched this film back to back with another British film "The Fourth Angel" which didn't receive rave reviews but was still head and shoulders above "For Queen and Country".

The first time I saw this film was back in the early Nineties, and I hadn't really heard of Denzel Washington either, therefore I presumed I was watching a low budget film about a Falklands Veteran returning to life in Civvy Street.

What I actually got was an eye opener about Life within Her Majesty's Armed Forces versus Life on the outside. Reuben, having been discharged from 2 Para, returns to London after a tour of duty in Northern Ireland and the Falklands, where he was decorated as a war Hero. However, given his vocation to his country, he finds interviews for jobs surprisingly difficult to arrange, even though they were sorted out by his careers officers in the army. Within time, he realises his illustrious army record holds no sway in everyday life.

This film makes you realise how easy it is to fall into the criminal side of life as Reuben becomes a body guard to a drug dealer. The ending is as grim as his life has become, therefore don't expect a smart, streetwise, cocky character to race through the film avoiding trouble. This is a Gritty urban Drama. I felt that as you watch Reuben's hopes for the future fade away, there truly is no justice for the little man.

Washington's British accent is impeccable, you would believe he was born, and lived his life in Milwall or Bermondsey. I read an interview that he learnt the native accent by getting drunk for a fortnight in London.

(1989) For Queen and Country POLITICAL THRILLER

Co-written and directed by Martin Stellman with Denzel Washington as Reuben James, an African British man who has retired from serving his country, once back home he begins to witness more mistreatment to his fellow African British mates both by the law and by government. That the British law is indeed racist.

Denzil Washington was convincing as a Englishman attempting to adjust, except that much of his fellow mates are continued to be mistreated. It's more of a pessimistic outlook in which I did not care too much for the ending. It's like, where is the optimism!

I have to disagree with the previous commentator's opinion. Washington's accent was about as spot on for a "Yank" as was we'll say Pitt's was in "Snatch" to an Irish tinker's. The movie while obviously low-budget (no different than we'll say "My Beautiful Laundrette" or "Mona Lisa" at this particular time in UK productions), yet its concentration on the inherent drama of a confused and conflicted ex-Para in a non-empathetic society totally over-rode its budgetary limitations.

This was an above-average movie (and a rare one) of its genre and adequately displays Washington's versatility as an actor.

The choice of Reuben James as the name of Denzel Washington's character is surely not a coincidence.

In 1804, during the Barbary Wars, US Sailor Reuben James, positioned himself between his captain, Stephen Decatur, and a pirate; taking the sword blows directed at Decatur.

In October, 1941, before the US entered WW2, the first USS Reuben James, a destroyer on convoy duty in the North Atlantic, positioned herself between an ammunition ship and the known location of a German U-Boat. Struck by a torpedo which ignited her magazine, the Reuben James sank in five minutes. Two thirds of her crew perished. Woody Guthrie wrote a song "The Sinking of the Reuben James".

Denzel Washington's character, Reuben James, likewise, positions himself in harm's way to protect others. ,