*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed*Defense of the Realm isn't too bad, I think it is an interesting film with a premise that is very obscure. If you can understand some of the low-audible dialogue and the heavy-handed British lingo, then it's a worthwhile film. Defense of the Realm has newspaper reporter Gabriel Byrne digging up muck in England, where a Member of Parliament gets thrashed and eventually dismissed for supposedly associating with a KGB agent. It's hard to follow at times and the ending is a big let-down because during the entirety of the film there was an enigmatic suspense that was really showing itself. Still, it does manage to bring enough closure to allow for the full critique of the American nuclear program abroad, which is staffed by lunatics. As a political thriller is should satisfy the basic audience.Also recommended: The Parallax View (1974) Three Days of the Condor (1975) The Conversation (1974) All the President's Men (1976) Telefon (1977)

First of all I will explain why I have given this low budget, little known thriller such a high rating.The film is set in the mid 1980s. At the time in the United Kingdom we had what seemed like almost daily assaults on our civil liabilities.We had gone through a painful recession and unemployment was over 3 million people. There was Sectarianism in Northern Ireland leading to regular terrorist incidents, there had been curbs in trade union rights and dismantling of the industrial landscape.We had a Tory government that had a 'them and us' mentality, which was close to Ronald Reagan's USA and were keen to maintain US nuclear missiles in the UK.There were rumours that the security service and parts of the police were out of control and being used for cover ups, including destabilising supposed enemies of the state. We had gone through a year long miners strike where the media deliberately edited news footage to show striking miners to be aggressors when it was not true. So we had the the police, armed forces, media, security services all dancing to the tune of the government of the day.The film very much plays on this atmosphere and comes up with a taut thriller steeped in paranoia. Its very much of its time and very anti establishment.After an incident involving a nuclear bomber at an American Air Force base in England, Dennis Markham (Ian Bannen), a prominent politician and American nuclear bases is forced by the media to resign after a liaison with a woman who is also having a thing with an East European.The journalist who was involved in this scoop Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) later suspects that Markham might have been framed and that he was being used. When his colleague Vernon Bayliss (Denholm Elliott) dies in mysterious circumstances suspects something more sinister and finds evidence of a cover up about the nuclear plane incident however government forces are out to stop him.This is a noirish conspiracy thriller with first rate acting from the cream of British character actors such as Ian Bannen, Denholm Elliott, Fulton Mackay. Greta Scacchi provides the glamour.Gabriel Byrne relishes the chance to play a hero and get to the truth. However the film has a twist up its sleeve. The establishment will not give in easily.

Gabriel Byrne stars in "Defence of the Realm," a 1985 film also starring Denholm Elliott, Greta Scacchi, Ian Bannen and Robbie Coltrane. Byrne plays Mullen, an aggressive newsman who is responsible for a story leading to the downfall of a Parliament member - he was seen leaving a madam's house, as was a KGB agent. However, he soon learns that there's much more to the story than that and that the man has been set up because he knew to much.This is a very good story with handsome Byrne heading up an excellent cast of foreign faces that will be very familiar to Americans. All of the acting is good, with a standout performance by Denholm Elliott. The beautiful Greta Scacchi, an asset to any production, is totally wasted here, however.What I liked best about this, and many other British films, is that you have to pay attention - first of all, so that your ears can adjust to the sound of not only the accents but also adjust to the way the British allow room tone to mix in with the dialogue, which we're not used to here. It gives the atmosphere a much more realistic flavor.Worth seeing.

This is very much the Mixture As Before which wheels out the Usual Suspects, Bannen, Elliott, Calder, etc, and lets them meander through ten reels of Is He, Isn't He, Was He, Wasn't He, Will He, Won't he til it figures the punters have had it up to here at which time it throws in an ambiguous ending. It was a good twenty years since the 'Profumo' affair so the Producers were fairly safe in recycling the idea of a Government Minister and a KGB Officer sharing the sexual favours of the same hooker as the tip of an increasingly larger iceberg. Gabriel Byrne is the 'investigative' journo who discovers, surprise, surprise, that there's more to the story than romps in the hay and minor cover-ups and the whole thing is fairly undemanding for Multiplex regulars who can swallow it whole without missing a beat of their popcorn mastication.