The Mark of Cain
Reviewed by IFFR
The Mark of Cain by Marc Munden (UK, 2007), that had its world premiere
in Rotterdam January 28, has been given the Movies that Matter Award.
Out of ten films on human rights within the festival selection, the
Jury choose the film for its raw realism. The Mark of Cain shows us
that occupation forces, the soldiers we like to call our boys also
commit war crimes.The Movies that Matter Award comes with a stipendium
of Euro 2,500.
In The Mark of Cain Shane Gulliver and Mark Tate are two 18-year-old
friends serving in the British Army in Basra, Iraq in 2003. The troops
were struggling to maintain the fragile peace. When their popular
Captain Godber is killed by a bomb on patrol, morale takes a nosedive.
Suspects are sought and arrested and in a night of heated emotions,
prisoners mistreated. When they get back to England, photographs of
the abuse of prisoners emerge clumsily and Shane and Treacle could
expect to be prosecuted. The Mark of Cain is an exciting, convincing
war film that provides insight into some unpleasant aspects of the
war in Iraq better than the news on TV.
Customer reviews - Amazon
The story is great and could quite easily be mistaken as being based on truth clearly illustrating how a group mentality under extremely unusual circumstances can bring out the basest of responses from supposedly civilised people. Lord of the Flies this is not but as an almost mockumentary take on the current conflict in the Middle East and a kind of tale of two 'brothers' it was good to see, especially in the DVD format without the constant interruptions for Gillette, car and beer adverts. The guy out of Shameless is great and the small amount of battle action is done well enough to look authentic. Some of the camera work is a bit TV-like but don't let it put you off watching.
I bought this yesterday as I knew I was going to miss it watching the football. I watched it late last night and it was so gripping and well made. It really did have the feel of a well made film. It portrayed the emotions and fears of the two 18 year soldiers so well, you go from feeling this must be a nightmare for them to thinking they are a bunch of wasters. My views by the end had changed so many times. I really think this is a sign of good film making. Bad result for my team but I felt better for watching this.
