For Queen and Country
| For Queen and Country | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Martin Stellman |
| Produced by | Tim Bevan |
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| Starring | |
| Music by | Michael Kamen |
| Cinematography | Richard Greatrex |
| Edited by | Steve Singleton |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Atlantic Entertainment Group |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
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| Language | English |
| Box office | $191,051 |
For Queen and Country is a 1988 British-American crime drama film co-written and directed by Martin Stellman and starring Denzel Washington. Washington stars as Reuben James, a Black British former paratrooper, who joined the British Army to escape the poverty of inner city London; Reuben fights in the Falklands War, and upon returning home he finds that society ignores and challenges him while trying to adjust to normal life.
The film received mixed reviews and was a box office flop. It has recently been reevaluated as a serious critique of Thatcherism and its effect in the 1980s UK.
Reuben James (Washington), although having grown up in London, was born in St. Lucia, West Indies, and joined the British Army to escape the poverty of inner city life. He serves with the Parachute Regiment, doing a tour in Northern Ireland for three years at the height of The Troubles in the late 1970s, and later fighting in the 1982 Falklands War in the South Atlantic for the remainder of his military career, eventually becoming a war hero himself.
Six years later, after leaving the army, Reuben returns to civilian life in London. Much to his chagrin, he receives far from a hero's welcome, mostly no-one caring about his time in the army. Many of Reuben's childhood friends have turned to crime and drug-dealing to support themselves. He is shocked to find that his old community, the East End, is still beset by the crime, poverty and racism that made him leave rather than being a better neighbourhood. In particular, he suffers abuse and brutality at the hands of racist police officers, and he is soon pressured by some old friends to go against the law.
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Wikipedia