Tumbledown DVD

Tumbledown attracted an incredible 10.5 million viewers when first boardcast in 1988 - just six years after the Falklands War. The film - which makes no moral judgements, but highlights the contrast in our perceptions of war - was hugely controversial, managing to draw fire from all sides of the political spectrum.

April 1982. After Argentinean troops take control of the Falkland Islands, the British task force set sail with a heroes' send off. Robert Lawrence, an enthusiastic young officer in the Royal Scots Guards, watches jealously: as a professional soldier, he is itching to join the fray.

Four months later, Robert is recuperating from a near-fatal wound received in the vital battle for Tumbledown, a peak overlooking Port Stanley. A sniper shot has blown away a large part of his brain and left him paralysed down his left side.

Back home, Robert - a physical and emotional wreck - soon discovers a nation honouring the heroes of the war with memorial services and victory parades, is less keen to face the living victims. The authorities want him hidden away, his girlfriend leaves him and even his best friend fails to understand him.

Raging at his treatment, visiting his old barracks, and reliving his experiences on the battlefield, Robert desperately attempts to come to terms with both his disabilities and a perception of war that contradicts and ignores his own experience.

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