For Queen & Country
For Queen & Country
| 17 May 1988 (USA)
For Queen & Country Trailers

A retired British soldier struggles to adjust to everyday life, with increasing difficulty.

Reviews
Diagonaldi Very well executed
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
celebrityplum Before viewing this film, I watched the trailer to get a quick glimpse, and immediately I classified this film as a comedy, but after actually viewing the film I realized the seriousness of the piece. Denzel Washington startled me with his "decent" British accent and his ability to remain consistent throughout the film. I, in no way, can relate to the plight of the protagonist yet I understand the feeling of betrayal, therefore I was rooting for him all the way. The plot was definitely long-winded and I was lost a few times, but surprisingly it all came together at the end. Even though he met his demise at the end, I was happy to see one of the many antagonist (the crooked police officer) killed off (this is where the sheer delight comes in). Overall the movie was pretty good and kept my attention. However, I found certain segments of the film unnecessary. Will I view again? Probably not.
Boxingmad This film is a harsh reality of life after the army. The British Paras are an elite fighting force, but they are there to kill the enemy. You don't really have a trade when you leave, except how to jump out of planes & kill. However, the British Army today has an excellent support sytem, unlike the mid 1980s when this film was set. This is highlighted in the movie as we see Reuben returning after leaving the Paras, during which he did a tour in Northern Ireland and fought in the 1982 Falklands war. We see him struggling to get any meaningful employment until he links up with a criminal friend. His mate Fish, who was wounded in the Falklands, is living on disability allowance, and is suffering too, being in a wheelchair. It is a sad, gritty look at life at the lower end of the scale in a run-down urban council estate in London. Having served his country with pride as a British paratrooper, he is left with nothing except the prospect of drifting into crime.
Theo Robertson A hero returning from war and finding that he`s no longer wanted isn`t one of the most original ideas for a screenplay but it is one of the best . Unfortunately FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY is one of the weaker of these types of films . The budget doesn`t help because the scenario of the Falklands War is relegated to a brief scene to a bunch of soldiers looking out of a ship doorway seeing flashes of gunfire away in the distance , and that`s the extent the film paints of the Falklands War . It`s not only this scene that irritates , I couldn`t help noticing that many of the interiors look like they were filmed in a film studio . But perhaps the most unconvincing thing about the film is Denzil Washington`s London accent , I can`t believe some people think its any good because I find it as irritating as Dick Van Dyke`s in MARY POPPINS . And let`s not forget that when this film was made Washington wasn`t the double Oscar winning mega star he is today but was best known as a TV star due to ST ELSEWHERE . Indeed FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY feels like an overproduced TV play similar to the excellent PLAY FOR TODAY that the BBC produced in the 1970s but not as well written . The ending is just too coincidental . I know it`s trying to be bitter and ironic but is completely contrived ." Soldiers don`t fight and die for Queen and country. They fight and die for one another" Major Chris Kebble . 2 Para
savee I never intended to see the movie - in fact I'd never heard of it - but accidentally I turned on the TV just as it was beginning, I saw Denzel Washington (come on, guys, he IS gorgeous) and decided to see what it's going to be about. And jeez, I was stunned. It was Britain showed from a totally different angle that I used to know (as a tourist and an exchange student). At moments, I must admit, the picture that emerged was that negative that I started suspecting it must be very much one-sided.But coming back to the story: a veteran (Northern Ireland and the Falklands) comes back to the part of London where he used to live only to find the world from which he tried to escape unchanged - probably even worse. His former buddies, with whom he used to get into troubles, continue to do so, only with much graver consequences. He tries to keep away from them, find a decent job, find a girlfriend, but it turns out that no one in this country needs a black war veteran. The only thing he has is his "honour and pride" from having served "his" country.What is amazing for me in this movie was probably the inevitability of his fate. Returning home means for him returning to people who got stuck in this ghetto, since it is a kind of a ghetto, deprived of any future, of any hope for better future. Drug dealers, thieves, war veterans, their women and children - they are all thrown into the same category of common criminals, the so-called social margin, from whom it's best to keep away. The funny thing - sending the police to fight them does not really solve the problem, quite the contrary, leads to an open war. Yet this is how the problem is being dealt with in most countries.All in all, a very good movie, one worth seeing not only because of Denzel Washington :))), but also because of the social problems mentioned... And really, is Britain such a racist country?Just one final remark - I wonder what makes D. Washington such a good pick for roles of soldiers (and ex-soldiers). Huh?