The Fallen (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

Documentary Greatness

[Theo Robertson · 10/10 · 17 November 2008]

On the surface Morgan Matthews documentary hardly breaks new ground on the genre front . A three hour documentary featuring archive news footage combined with talking head interviews centered around the 300 British service personnel killed in the war against terror . Taken at face value it's like asking " Who would want to watch a nine hour documentary featuring the holocaust ? " but that would be insulting SHOAH whilst denying the power of documentary . I can't think of anything I've seen recently that has moved me so much as THE FALLEN . Nor am I ashamed to say that I wept while watching it

The format is simple . Interviews with the relatives of personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, photos and footage of much loved siblings fathers and sons , cross cut with the testimony by a journalist or former serving officer or of news footage of roadside bombings and firefights . Everyone's name is listed from first fatality Lance Corporal Darren George to Marines Neil Dunstan and Robert McKibben killed by an IED just before broadcast , The simplicity shouldn't be interpreted as a criticism and brings a very subliminal quality from the start as graves are visited and letters read . Neither should it be forgotten that the immediate " in yer face " moments are any less haunting such as the mother of Christopher Gray as she describes the death of her son as we're shown his finals hours caught on camera . This is what marks THE FALLEN as being true documentary greatness - you just want to wrap your arms around the relatives involved and make the whole world right . There's added bleak poignancy when you realise you can't . These relatives will feel their loss for the rest of their lives . It's something that not only makes you think but makes you feel

Fortunately for our generation unlike those of the 1914-18 and 1939-45 generations war is a rare and abstract thing . The unfortunate thing about this is that the average Briton is ignorant about the human cost of war . Worse still those who have lost loved ones will probably be left more isolated from society and forgotten than by other generations . That's the impression I am left with . Humbling to watch , even more humbling to comment on THE FALLEN shows the human cost of war more incisively than anything I've ever seen and that alone marks it out for documentary greatness

Very Powerful...

[jameshr4 · 10/10 · 17 November 2008]

This was one if not the most powerful and moving programme I have ever seen.

It names all those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq and tells some of the stories behind the grief.

It was emotionally very powerful I was expecting it to be a cheesy memorial but I was wrong. Four stories stick out for me, a stiff upper lip former officer finally breaking down talking about the funeral of his son. The mother of Chris Grey through tears thanking those who tried to save her son, as she has the unenviable ability of being able to relive the whole awful event because most of it was caught on camera. The twin brother being taken to the bedside of his dying twin, and the mother and father turning to drink in grief over the loss of their son.

You cannot help but be moved.

very very moving

[gaelforce10 · 10/10 · 16 November 2008]

I thought that this was one of the moving documentaries that I have ever seen. It focuses on the families of British soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last number of years. It shows how different families cope with grief and loss and each family has a story to tell.

The film names every British serviceman and woman to have died in Iraq and Afghanistan since those wars began in 2001 and 2003 respectively. It also features interviews with the families and loved ones of many of those killed.

As Morgan Matthews the film maker says "In this country, there's a strong cultural tradition of remembering people with humour. But underneath the humour there is an incredible sense of pain." For me it is some of the most moving and poignant TV that I have ever seen.

The tight focus on the human face of the stats keep politics out of it and makes it intensely engaging and moving

[bob the moo · 16 February 2009]

Each week I listen to ABC's This Week as a podcast and the "in memoriam" section mostly concludes with the host saying "this week the Pentagon released the names of x members of the armed services that lost their lives in Iraq". On the news on the radio in the UK I am used to hearing that so many service men and women died in Afghanistan or Iraq today and I realised recently that it had become like the news when I lived in Northern Ireland when the only thing that made me pay attention was the lack of a death, the deaths themselves had become ordinary, part of the background. This is how it is in the War on Terror now as the stats simply overwhelmed our ability to keep track.

This film potentially was going to challenge that view but I reserved my judgement because I spotted it was made by Morgan Matthews – a man who does a great job on quirkumentaries but has also indicated that he cannot dig deeper when he has to (see Battleship Antarctica). So I approach with care. Theo Robertson is not wrong when he says that the film doesn't break new ground in its format as we have clips combined with talking heads making up the majority of the time – it is a standard format but it is probably a standard format because it works well. And so it does here as we get over three hours of humanity laid out in front of us in a way that not only doesn't let us forget that these stats are people with families but also makes us want never to forget.

That it does this is down to a huge amount of work put in by the makers because there is a lot of research here but also a lot of time spent getting the footage and then editing it down to what works best. The talking heads here are mostly not the type where you roll into someone's house of 30 minutes, get the sound-bites and then move on. It must have been painstaking to make just on a technical level. However it pays off because on the whole the contributions and focuses are honest, varied and engaging. I say varied because this not some cheesy film where everyone cries easily but one where everyone has their own feelings and own way of coping. People cry but they cry for different reasons – regret, loss, pride and so on.

Throughout it all Matthews keeps the focus on the human impact of each death on each family. Of course he does not cover all 300 of the British dead but all the names come up in order across the running time and the contributions are where he does his work. The remarkable thing is that he achieves this. Nobody else has said it in their reviews so I will embrace the negative user votes and say that some of those with death relatives are not people you would want to go out with and likewise some of the dead seen in videos are not people you want to hang out with. The reasons will vary. Some are very posh. Some are very rough. Some are just really crude and laddish. For everyone watching the film you would think there should be a moment where you turn to the person next to you and make a barbed remark about the posh/Northern/poor/whatever character you are watching – but you don't. And the reason you don't is that Matthews has captured the person within each of them. The pain, the loss, the grief in whatever form it takes. It is a shame that the film makes it look so easy because it is not.

Credit to the makers of the film as well for avoiding making political points either themselves or by letting the contributions (that made the final edit) go off against Bush or Blair, even if they do get a mention. Indeed other than some snide remarks made by a BBC newsreader in one of the clips ("so-called War on Terror" – I agree but where is the journalistic integrity?) the film keeps the focus entirely on the people, not the politics. Will I watch The Fallen again? Potentially. Is a fun little film that I would pick up quickly? No. Is it entertaining? No. No, what the film is is impacting, human and moving. It takes the numbers, names and stats that we see and hear each week and puts real people into the pictures. Regardless of your politics and your stance on the war this film will impact on you and make you cry (like Theo, I cried openly several times as well as welling up lots) and this is down to the tight focus on the people in the film. An immensely moving and important documentary record and by a country mile the film Matthews can be most proud of in his career so far.