Occupation (2009)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

So when does a topical drama go from being 'committed' to being 'shrill'? And when does 'covering many aspects' become 'cluttered'? This was engaged film-making of the Ken Loach style - you'll probably guess from that comparison what the makers' view of the Iraq war was. But even as someone who marched against the war, I found the film overwrought at times.The sheer number of characters meant some of them were just cyphers, and you got the feeling the makers had tried to bung everything they'd heard about Iraq into the film.... and yet for all that it was a passionate, 'big' work, well-acted and powerfully-scripted. The plot twists were cheeky, but it was easy to be carried along.Oh and if you haven't yet seen 'Occupation', avoid the IMDb discussion page. Some numbskulls haven't quite grasped the idea of 'spoilers'!!

Much heralded and overdue first drama from the BBC covering soldiering in the Iraq conflict, which for me however ultimately sank under the weight of its over-earnest convictions, unlikely coincidences,and too many concessions to prime-time TV drama.All the various things I suppose we've heard about and would expect to figure in a dramatisation such as this are topically present and correct, from Iraqi attitudes towards women, the emotional stresses that soldiers have to endure, both on tour and trying to re-acclimatise back home with their families, the rise of mercenary/security firms usually from the ranks of disaffected soldiers and the hostage-taking practices carried out by the young hard-line Iraqi insurgents. There was even an unpleasant reminder (ditto the near-execution scene) of the harrowing real-life mob-slaying of two trapped soldiers from recent memory. There was all this and more spread over three hourly episodes but to this viewer there was too much of everything. From these three very different soldiers, the bond among whom I didn't think was initially conveyed strongly enough to justify their continuing up-and-down camaraderie, emanated just too many plot strands which served to overwhelm the believability of the piece.Then there's the over-abundance of coincidences strewn into the plot, from James Nesbitt's character Mike Swift's Iraqi doctor lover being married to the hospital manager with whom Danny & former US soldier Lester negotiate their security contract, to Hibbsy being the very soldier kidnapped by the terrorists, miraculously sprung just as he's about to be executed by beheading, to Nesbitt's son joining the Army to follow his dad, only to wind up terrified and very dead at the low-key conclusion; as I said earlier, there seemed to me far too much of almost soap-opera type climaxes inserted to heighten the action. I wasn't convinced by Nesbitt's romance with the Iraqi doctor who herself brutally pays the ultimate sacrifice for being seen to collaborate with the enemy, their love scenes awkward and stiltedly written and played, ditto his scenes with his wife back home and worst of all the embarrassing sub-soap argument between Hibbsy and his pacifist sister. Too many lines came over as scripted and unnatural. The acting I found mixed too. James Nesbitt (BBC's resident street-tough character) can drop a tear on demand but failed to demonstrate great range, whilst Stephen Graham as the sex, drugs & booze fuelled Danny, ready to drop his trousers for more reasons than one also failed to convince me that he can do anything other than border-line deranged wide-boy. Best was Warren Brown as the "third man", the only one to really convince me through his eyes of his confusion, depression and sense of alienation. The actors portraying the Iraqi husband and wife doctors were also fine and the depiction of war-torn Iraq was realistic and moving at times.The deliberately downbeat ending, for once unadorned by over-intrusive background music (or elsewhere by some fairly irrelevant and incongruous modern songs - we got the likes of Amy McDonald of all people over the end titles), with Danny's pay-off line, in response to Swift's asking of him "What happened to you?" - "I came to Iraq", was again a bit too over-wrought for me.I feel the story could have benefited more from concentrating on one man (or woman's) experience and playing up the mundane-ness of soldiering rather than the almost action-packed existence of the soldiers shown here. I watched it all the way through but whilst I was certainly held to attention by what I saw, for me the whole lacked ultimate truth and credibility.

I am 17, and I have seen TV dramas that often falls into mawkish sentimentality and confusion. Occupation however is one of those rarities, the whole drama was just superb in every aspect, I couldn't fault it at all. I personally think it is one of the best dramas ever on the BBC in recent years. The acting was just brilliant, the three leads James Nesbitt, Warren Brown and Stephen Graham giving towering and sometimes emotional performances as three men with different reasons for returning to Basra, all of which are explained clearly. They are all aided by a wonderful script by Peter Bowker, haunting music, subtle direction from Nick Murphy and superb camera-work, making the look of the drama more realistic than it was. The scene in the hospital in particular is worth mentioning, as it was so powerful and perhaps even moving. The drama concludes with a harrowing and heart-rending climax, making it an unmissable and enormously satisfying drama from the BBC. 10/10 Bethany Cox.

This three-part war drama is definitely the best thing to come out of the BBC in years. Superb writing from Peter Bowker is what really drives it home. An incredibly powerful and original story, combined with Nick Murphy's clever yet subtle direction are a perfect combination.Then there's the acting - perfectly executed. A great performance from James Nesbitt (as always) as well as Stephen Graham and Warren Brown, who deserves a special mention for some particularly emotional scenes - his agent's phone is going to be ringing off the hook now! The story seamlessly skips in time, often showing 'Three months later' etc. When this happens so often in shows, people can become confused and lose connection with story and characters. In OCCUPATION however, this is not the case. Rather than throwing layers of exposition and lesser moments at the audience, the story remains fast-paced throughout. At no point do you feel cheated in what you see, as the audience is given the freedom to resolve certain story elements for themselves.It's a must-see for everyone (war fan or not). Packed with great characterisation, strong storytelling and powerful emotion, OCCUPATION is a landmark in British television. Hopefully there will be many more dramas like it in the coming years.