Remembrance is an early 80’s UK drama regarding a group of Royal Navy ratings, spending their last few days in Plymouth before they get shipped off to the US for six months. The film is an interesting/ if a point frustratingly darting study of the hopes, fears,  and boozed-up interactions of the sailors. It’s notable for a few reasons- it was the first production from the Film Four brand, and it features early performances of notable British actors Gary Oldman, Timothy Spall, and John Altman. Here from the BFI’s Flipside is a reissue of this rarely seen drama- taking in a new HD scan of the film, and a good selection of extras.

Remembrance is from the year 1982- it was directed by Cheltenham, Gloucestershire-born Colin Gregg. Between the early 1970s and early 2000s, he has twenty-two directors’ credits to his name- all but three of these were shorts/ TV credits. His other two features were the catholic school set drama Lamb(1985),  and the post-war gay dramaWe Think The World Of You(1988). 

The film opens at nighttime in the pouring rain- as we see a figure drunkenly staggering about a line of flags- we presume this is the front of some form of forces training facility. We next move into the night streets of Plymouth- as we see a taxi pull up outside a small hotel- several men go into the building, though one very drunk man in a leather jacket is turned away- he staggers back into the car, and heads to the towns bar area Union Street- this is Daniel( Gray Oldman)…though we don’t find his name until towards the end of the film.

Daniel heads into the bar- getting even more drunk, he gets talking to the slight/baby-faced sailor John (David John)- one thing leads to another Daniel lands up dancing- as a group of men throw pint glasses at him- a bouncer throws him out, but also beats him badly for little or no reason…in time he’s found by a ambulance, taking in the hospital and hooked up to a ventilate as he goes into a coma.

The one-hour and fifty-minute film weaves together the story of several sailors- getting ready to ship out to the States. John’s story is somewhat of a mystery- as he tries to find out who Daniel is, and how he knows him.
A few of the other key stories follow Vincent( Peter Lee-Wilson) who has a distant relationship with his parents-  his mother is having an affair with a bouncer, while his weak father is trying to reconnect with his son. And Douglus (Timothy Spall) who is spending a few days with his pregnant wife. Some of the stories/characters are slightly more realised than others- with all of them mixed together in a decidedly shifting/ darting manner.

Acting wise Oldman is very believable as the boozed-up stranger- though he spends most of the film on his back in the hospital bed. Spall sells well enough that a man split between his job & the upcoming birth. John Altman( Nasty Nick from Eastenders) is passable as a trying to make things work with his partner- though is somewhat flat in places. I’d say the highlights here are David John as the worried mystery solver, and Peter Lee-Wilson as the batting against his parent's character.

Remembrance looks at themes of responsibility, doubt, and prejudice towards the forces in general. It certainly makes some interesting points with some moments of worthy drama along the way. The issue is the films structure is very much shifting/ often muddled- with one often not fully understanding who some of the characters are & how they relate/ connect to each other.

The new HD scan from the original camera negatives looks well-defined with a good/ even colour balance. On the extra side of things, we have three new interviews. Vivid Memories (21.14) with director Colin Gregg. He starts off by discussing the difficult state of the UK film industry in the early 80’s, and how the deal with Film Four came about. He talks about how he came from a teaching background- with his early films being more West Country set documentaries. We found out the film's budget was £325000, and he got the initial idea for the film from watching/ taking photos on Union Street- where on a weekend one to two thousand ratings were let out to drink. He talks about there been no interference from Film Four, and how it was all filmed on location- with often back extras being real people. Working Away( 21.25) with screenwriter Hugh Stoddart. He talks about this been the third screenplay he wrote, and how Film Four changed the UK film industry.  He discusses the research he did for the scipt and the difficult intertwining of the different characters. Acting The Part (12.58 ): interview with actor John Altman. He talks about lying about his age for the part- saying he was nine years younger than he was. How he felt the director had a sensitive touch, taking his time over scenes. And recalls himself, Oldman and another actor getting well and truly plastered one night after stealing booze from the hotel's bar.

On the archive side of things, we have: Gary Oldman on Remembrance (3 mins): a 2018 introduction recorded for a screening on Film 4. David Rose in Conversation (11 mins): from 2010 extracts from a career interview with the former senior commissioning editor for Channel 4 Television, conducted by Sir Jeremy Isaacs. Raleigh: The First Few Weeks (19 mins): a 1986 film following the daily lives of new naval ratings, from their arrival at training establishment HMS Raleigh, beginning the first phase of their training and onwards to the day of their passing out parade. Royal Navy Amazon (1 min): a made-for-TV advert from 1980 used to bolster the recruitment of ordinary naval ratings. Galleries – a collection of materials including an early handwritten draft of the screenplay.

The finished release comes with an Illustrated booklet with a new essay by screenwriter Hugh Stoddart, new writing on the film by Johnny Mains, an essay by the BFI’s Dr Josephine Botting and full film credits.

To begin with, Remembrance certainly captures the drunken chaos of Union Street in the 80’s, and as it moves on we get a compelling enough mix of drama & mystery. It’s nice to see this BFI release appearing- for fans of UK drama & the early days of Film Four