In the navy… Remembrance (1982), BFI Flipside #48 Blu-ray

Well, I’m in the navy see, and that’s work of national importance. That’s why we can’t go on strike, that’s why we sign on for fucking years… I’m proud of what I do!

 

I missed this first time round, busy in the college bar and having an easier time of it than many of my generation. My cousin became a marine a decade later but I did know people who were in the Navy at this time, some who served in the Falklands that preceded this release by a few months. I still remember the chill I felt as Ark Royal and the other ships headed off to a war I never expected to be fought. My college hosted HMS Glamorgan’s rugby team the year later and they were a different breed, out-drinking and out-playing is with ease, men of the world.

 

Remembrance never set out to be as political as it turned out but… the elements were always there given references to Northern Ireland and John Altman’s outburst to a drunken teacher at a middle-class party reproduced with minimal swearing above. In truth this is always the bottom line for the armed services and for the young men who make up the majority of the recruits and it was always writer Hugh Stoddart and director/producer Colin Gregg’s intention to make a story that focused on their first big sacrifices: their time, family and friends.

 

The result was one of the first films produced by Channel 4 and featured a now astonishing cast of soon to be highly successful, cast members from Timothy Spall to John Altman via, in his first substantial part, Gary Oldman but there are many more who have made their living on stage screen and TV since this film.

Mr Oldman feels a little worse for wear...

The film has a lot of characters, all of whom feel real, well-written and well-acted by this young collective, and its narrative keeps you guessing as the story slips forwards and backwards between elements that will eventually coalesce into a poignant whole. It begins with a group of lads laughing and joking as they watch an old cinefilm of themselves at the Royal Albert Hall for the annual Festival of Remembrance. As they watch they recognise faces and their younger selves until the Army gymnastics team perform and one of them spots and unfamiliar face…

 

Cut backward and we see an inebriated youngster walking on his hands in the dark, he’s ten-pint drunk staggering around in search of even more cheap lager. Gary Oldman is almost unrecognisably youthful but protean as ever, is the individual who we later learn is called Daniel and he displays one of the most convincingly painful depictions of what we used to refer to as “paralytic” back in those days of 35p pints. He finds his way into a disco bar on the notorious Union Street drag between Plymouth and naval base at Devonport, home to thousands of off-duty sailors and dozens of pubs, strip joints and cheap restaurants.

 

He quickly upsets some of the older regulars who berate him for being out beyond curfew and, following his brief and emphatic suggestion that they go away, wait for him to pass out. He staggers over to a baby-faced jack tar, Mark (David John) who invites him to join him and two young women, even though he’s nearly as incapable. The two talk, as drunken men do, and Oldman’s character talks about his dream of becoming an acrobat and there’s a haunting keyboard motif accompanying his reveries on this subject each time provided by Brian Eno’s track Aragon (from Music for Films (1978)*), which carries the sense of stillness both of the skilled athlete but also the moment in time when decisions are made.

 

The not-so-nasty John Altman

The young man also says he can dance and after encouragement from Mark goes onto the dance floor and does indeed dance attracting the attention of the watchers at the bar who then thrown glasses onto the dance floor. The in-house bouncer steps in and drags the by now sick youngster outside where he administers an horrific beating – the lad is too drunk to defend himself - witnessed by local preacher/down and out Joe (Kenneth Griffith) who does all he can, he prays and watches.

 

The next day Mark’s hangover is made all the worse by the arrival of his sister and parents for his last day before his next tour and then by the knowledge that his temporary friend was now in a coma in hospital. Gradually he gets involved trying to remember what the two had talked about and even visits him as the newspapers have reported that there was no wallet on him and no name tag. Meanwhile others plan a revenge mission the next night on the bouncer even those that started the glass throwing.

 

But there’s more going on in Plymouth than this unfolding tragedy, and we meet Mark’s pal Vincent (the excellent Pete Lee-Wilson) who likes his friend’s sister but hates his parents, one of whom is now married to the man who runs the bar in which Daniel was injured. Vincent and his parents have yet to come to terms with their separation and his, resulting in some of the film’s most emotional moments.

 

A golden age of rail, sailors plus McEwans and Carlsberg

There’s also a young married couple, Douglas and Christine played by Timothy Spall and Kim Taylforth sister of Gillian Taylforth – the Eastenders connections are very strong here including the fact that Oldman’s older sister Laila Morse plays Little Mo. Christine is heavily pregnant and her husband will be at sea on the due date, another painful separation.

 

More pain could well be felt by John Altman’s character Steve who has started seeing the girlfriend of one the toughs from the older ratings who is intent of engaging in irrational debate about the situation. All is set for another lively night on Union Street and there will be blood…

 

 

This new 2024 restoration by the BFI marks the first time Remembrance has been available in this format and it’s so surprising that the film has not received more attention over the years given the quality of cast and crew. Still, now it’s here and I would recommend it very highly.

 

The 80s, they say if you can remember them you weren't really there...

Special features

 

• Newly remastered from original camera materials by the BFI and presented in High Definition
• Gary Oldman on Remembrance (2018, 3 mins): an introduction recorded for a screening on Film 4
• Vivid Memories (2024, 21 mins): newly recorded interview with director Colin Gregg
• Working Away (2024, 21 mins): newly recorded interview with screenwriter Hugh Stoddart
• Acting The Part (2024, 13 mins): newly recorded interview with actor John Altman
• David Rose in Conversation (2010, 11 mins): extracts from a career interview with the former senior commissioning editor for Channel 4 Television, conducted by Sir Jeremy Isaacs
• Raleigh: The First Few Weeks (1986, 19 mins): following the daily lives of new naval ratings, from their arrival at training establishment HMS Raleigh, beginning the first phase of their training and onwards to the day of their passing out parade
• Royal Navy Amazon (1980, 1 min): a made for TV advert used to bolster the recruitment of ordinary naval ratings
• Galleries – a collection of materials including an early handwritten draft of the screenplay

 

Illustrated booklet with a new essay by screenwriter Hugh Stoddart, new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, an essay by the BFI’s Dr Josephine Botting and full film credits. This is limited to the first pressing only and so you better get in quick!

 

You can order Remembrance now from the BFI shop and other reputable retailers.

*Ironically perhaps, the middle-class party attended by John Altman’s character features first a Genesis track sung by Phil Collins and then a solo track. Collin’s the epitome of MOR rock/pop success was also the percussionist on the Brian Eno track that acts as the film’s and Daniel’s theme, more than anything, Collins was one of the finest drummers of his era and Eno tended to work with the best (and U2).