Tumbledown (1989) (TV) 

On a first viewing, I was overwhelmed by the complexity and sophistication of the story telling. Colin is on record as praising Charles Woods' script, and the dear boy knew what he was talking about. Script, direction and editing are superb. The whole thing is a fragmented collage of sequences, spread over a time frame of - what? six months? a year? - something like that - jumping backwards, forwards and sideways, one shot (eg Colin knocking over a wine glass) jump cutting to a whole different time frame and event (perhaps something rolling on the battlefield), perfectly joined together. 

Tumbledown is completely unsentimental, powerfully moving, horrifying, uplifting, aggressive, angry, rude, heart rending, exhilarating, funny, and non-partisan. Ultimately, it is as much about the stupidity of the whole Falklands war exercise as it is about Captain Robert Lawrence (and he is absolutely at the centre of the piece). I was shocked at the last line Colin gets to say, even though, in any other context, that line would be absolutely innocuous. (I'm being vague on purpose on the assumption that you don't want spoilers, but I'll be as specific as you like if you want me to be. I assume it's safe to talk about the basic storyline, since you must know what the thing is about in general, yes?) 

Woods is very clear eyed about his characters, and never lets us get too close to any one point of view. There is a wonderful moment near the end when a young woman (played by Emma Thompson's sister Sophie) completely turns around our view of a scene involving Colin (this is becoming torturous, trying not to give things away, but she is *not* romantically involved with his character!) by her comments about his behaviour to another character. We move in and out of sympathy with Colin, with the British army, with the soldiers and friends and family around Colin, with the hospital system. Whenever you think you know what stance the film is taking, it is as likely as not to do a sharp turn, and pull out the rug from under you. Wonderful stuff. 

When Jolanta sent me the tape, her comment was that it is "Colin's finest hour", and I'm inclined to agree. He is so fine in this. The Darcy-only lovers on the list may hate it, because he plays angry, rude, aggressive, sheer bloody minded, selfish, drunk, half-paralysed, foul mouthed, weak and helpless, self-obsessed, even boring, and sometimes looks quite ugly. On the other hand, he also plays funny, tender, lost, despairing, strong, loyal, a natural leader, mischievous, energetic, active, determined and highly emotional - *and* we get a shot of his bare bum thrown in for good measure. Oh, and you'll see Colin being about as macho, in some scenes, as you are ever likely to see him. 

See Colin weep (a lot), swear, engage in daft young man pranks, laugh, get drunk, kill an enemy, pick fights, hug male friends, er - sing (sort of) as he leads a troop run, wear a silly bearskin tall soldier's hat with aplomb, go through physical and mental agony with half his brain hanging out, take a crap whilst being cheered on by a roomful of soldiers, kiss a girl, drive a sportscar, learn to walk again, smoke a lot, and just generally be utterly brilliant. 

He should have won the BAFTA. At least (I see from the FAQ) he did win *some* award for this. 

Barbara Leigh-Hunt plays his mother, and does a fine job. Hmm, what was that line in the Making of P&P book, when he said he walked into the first rehearsal and didn't know a soul? Actor's exaggeration? or perhaps she wasn't actually there that day . 

In terms of his looks, it was obviously made around 1988 (which is the date at the end of the film). It is fascinating, because in some scenes, he looks like post-Tilly Colin, and in others, he looks closer to pre-Tilly Valmont. The final shot, a long held close up of his beautiful face, is particularly Valmont-like. 

(This is a kind of 'part 2', when I was asked to describe the film in more detail. i think it went off list to a few individuals.) 

Tumbledown: 

One thing I should say is that Americans might have some trouble with the soundtrack. I had a hard job understanding some of what they say, and I'm English, so I know the 'slang'. Still, it's worth listening closely!

As I said, the whole film is a marvellous collage. It opens with Colin (Robert Lawrence) and his friend Hugh driving fast in an open sports car down a wonderful English country lane. Colin is driving, and they are both having a good time. There is stirring music laid over the soundtrack, but they are actually listening to rock. They could be any two happy, healthy, horny well off young men on a joy ride. They arrive in a pretty village, at what turns out (I think) to be the home of Hugh's parents. And when Colin gets out of the car, suddenly we see there is something different about him. His left leg is stiff and awkward. Then after a while, we notice that his left arm doesn't function. But he isn't at all sorry for himself. He is bright and breezy and positive, maybe even a bit obnoxious. 

The collage starts to take effect here. All the way through, we get glimpses of what happened in the Falklands, sometimes with repeated shots that make more sense the more we see, sometimes stuff that advances the story. Sometimes the story goes backwards rather than forwards. In fact, the first battle scene we see is a helicopter coming in to take a badly wounded soldier, who is being carried like a limp rag doll - it is Colin. 

There are other intercut scenes of Colin doing his soldier's training, Colin getting drunk, Colin and his girlfriend, Colin's last night before heading to the Falklands, Colin and his soldier friends, Colin and his parents, and lots of scenes of Colin in a variety of hospitals, having his operations, recovering at different stages. It's so complex, I'd have to lay it all out for you to really give you the idea. 

And all the time, we keep cutting back to Colin & Hugh visiting Hugh's family, and telling them the story of Colin's injury. In a completely unsentimental, unheroic way. In fact, Hugh appears almost pissed off with Colin, bored by having to go through the same anecdotes over and over again. They clash on who said what, and what exactly happened. Often, we then cut to the reality of the scene they are talking about. 

Colin's crapping scene takes place in a kind of hospital bunk room with other wounded soldiers. They could even be on a troop ship coming home, I'm a bit hazy from only seeing it once so far. Anyway, Colin is pretty well immobilised, what with being paralysed down his entire left side, and a look of intense pleasure and concentration comes over his face, and he announces that he is about to have his first bowel movement for ages since the injury (well, he says he's going to have his first crap), and an orderly rushes a bed pan to him, and he manages to lift up his hips so he can get it positioned, and then all the other soldiers in the room cheer him on. 

The bare bum bit comes in a scene on his last morning in England before the war. He got horribly drunk the previous night, and talked his girlfriend into sleeping with him. He doesn't turn up on time for the troop bus, so his pals rush off to his flat to find him fast asleep (and naked) in Sophie's arms. They burst in, drag the covers off, haul him out of bed (hence the bum shot) throw his knickers and trousers at him, and start dragging him out the door. He rushes back to give her a passionate kiss, then they are off! Meanwhile, a nice bit of English humour, one of the lads, a very polite chap, introduces himself politely to the semi naked Sophie. 

There are so many wonderful sequences! One that struck me forcefully is one where one of the men Colin is responsible for in the Falklands has some kind of fit and falls down in the mud. Colin spots him, rushes over, and starts giving the kiss of life. Others rush to his aid. They all get filthy, trying to revive this boy, and drag him to cover. He keeps on stopping breathing, and Colin keeps giving him the kiss of life. At one point, he kicks the boy violently in the back, and that starts him breathing again. And then the boy suddenly vomits, right in Colin's mouth. It's not pretty, but it is real, and unheroic. Colin just swears at him, treats it as just one of those things, and carries on. 

Colin plays the injuries beautifully. He gradually heals - to start with, even the left side of his face is paralysed, but he regains mobility there. His emotions are all shot to hell, so he cries a lot. He also gets very angry - a strong personality change, resulting from having half his brain shot to bits. He is rude and vulgar and abrasive and highly emotional and scared and lost - but determined not to give way to it - and determined to walk again, to march, to be a soldier. He has little control over his bladder, and he discusses this problem in a completely unsentimental way. His girlfriend abandons him, but even his parents don't blame her - she's young, they had made no life commitment to each other. After all Colin goes through, it is quite a shock when he tells us later on that he is now only 25. 

At one point, he's being interviewed by an army psychologist, and they discuss what it feels like to kill a man. Colin talks about an enemy he bayonetted in the Falklands - perhaps his last act before he gets cut down. We have quite a cold, clinical discussion here. Then the psychologist asks whether he got sexually aroused by the killing. All these twisting, turning viewpoints and comments are wonderful! 

The comment I mentioned by Emma Thompson's sister is just another twist to the point of view of the narrative. She's Hugh's sister, and has been hiding out in her room, so as not to meet Colin and Hugh, and when they leave, she expresses relief, because she is bored and repelled by what they do and talk about. Heroism is just slaughtered all the way through this film. 

Finally, we see fully what happened to Colin in the Falklands - the actual scene he described earlier where he kills the man - and you can't help being a little shocked and repelled at the madness and pointlessness of war (and especially this war) that is raised by this act. Then he grabs two rifles (this had also been talked about earlier, by Colin and Hugh, and separately by Colin's father, who laughs at the thought of his son running around like John Wayne in True Grit), and charges up a hill, screaming, his blood up for more action. And he stands at the top, and fires the rifles, and if I heard him right, his last line is "Isn't this fun?!" which I found shocking in context of heroism, brutality, what soldiering and war is about, etc. And the next second, a bullet explodes into his head, and he falls in agonising slow motion, with cuts of moments we have seen earlier on. 

And then it cuts to another scene we have seen earlier, with a gorgeous, sombre young Colin, post-recovery, not in uniform, watching a parade. And he lifts his panama hat to the unseen soldiers that pass. And we come to an extreme close up of his beautiful face. And that's the end. 

Phew!
Lisa