BILTON – KOSMINSKY : Speaking out (fülszöveg)
Once in a while a television programme pricks the conscience of a nation and changes its way of thinking. Falklands War: The Untold Story, made by Yorkshire Television and shown in April 1987, was such a programme. It revealed for the first time to the British public the harsh realities of modern warfare, and aroused nationwide controversy because it also told Argentina's story. Hailed as 'the documentary to end all documentaries about the Falklands War' by the British press, it was also described as 'a hymn against war'.
In their film, Michael Bilton and Peter Kosminsky were constrained by time to using only a small portion of the potent material they had gathered together. Now drawing upon their extensive collection, they have produced Speaking Out: an oral history of the conflict which is every bit as moving and compelling as their visual record.
For the majority of British people the war was another glorious chapter in their history. With flags waving and bands playing, British troops had sailed away to repel the invaders. Patriotic emotions were stirred as they returned victorious. But those directly involved – combatants and non-combatants on both sides of the conflict – tell a rather different story. It is a story of political miscalculation and diplomatic failure; a story of a savage war fought 8,000 miles from Britain, in which modern battleships were sunk by sophisticated missiles and men battled against each other in trenches with bayonets. A war in which 1,000 men were killed and 2,000 injured, in which minds and bodies were broken, and from which Argentinian servicemen, hailed a few short weeks before as conquering heroes, returned to a nation which no longer cared.
Interviews with key British, American and Argentinian negotiators give a fresh perspective on the background to the conflict and on decisions made at the time. Falkland Islanders describe the fear of living under occupation, and the horror of returning to homes despoiled by the invaders. But it is the words of the sailors, pilots and soldiers of Britain and Argentina – and the bereaved and disillusioned families they left behind – which linger in the mind. It is they who provide the often unexpected insights and their voices which reveal the grim reality of war.
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| KATALÓGUS | TARTALOM |
