Dec 29, 2023
Play for Today: Psy-Warriors (BBC, 1981)
"A bomb scare at Aldershot. I see. Attributed to the Provisional IRA."
"They haven't claimed responsibility."
"What if the bomb had gone off?"
"Then the Provisional IRA would've claimed responsibility. Well, why not, eh? We help keep the terrorist's cause in the public eye and the terrorist helps us justify the need for greater security. What's called a symbiotic relationship, I believe."
#play for today#psy warriors#single play#alan clarke#david leland#bbc#1981#classic tv#rosalind ayres#anthony bate#colin blakely#warren clarke#julian curry#john duttine#derrick o'connor#laurence payne#bill stewart#roger evans#terry forrestal#david mcgaw#decided to mark Leland's passing by watching one of his most fearless‚ most politically charged pieces. decried by the rightwing media as#IRA propaganda and criticised by some leftists as a sadistic softening up of an unrealising populace‚ depicting brutal torture techniques#both physical and mental‚ featuring actual footage of a summary execution as well as a great deal of full frontal nudity‚ it's nothing#short of a minor miracle that this was ever made‚ let alone transmitted. that it was speaks to the tenacity of writer Leland director#Clarke and particularly producer June Roberts. this began life as a stage work by Leland‚ origins which are fairly clear still in this tv#adaptation; Clarke adds a lot tho‚ with his trademark formality (almost choreography) of composition and the cooly disturbing dispassionate#nature with which horror upon horror is doled out. a devastating examination of the psychology of war and of the soldier‚ of indoctrination#and of conditioning with a single purpose: of violence and of violent reprisal to violence. it's an alarmingly prescient piece in some ways#and a perfect example of Leland's quietly controlled rage at an unjust and dangerous system within a larger frame of injustice and violence#now more than ever we need more David Lelands. rip
