Genre: Drama
Director: Andrew Haigh
Writer: Jimmy Ellis
Cast: Roman Griffin-Davis, Brian Cox, Carey Mulligan, Harry Collett, Indica Watson, Sam Taylor Buck
Plot: Toy soldiers line a shelf, a grenadier leads the charge with his arm poised to throw a grenade. A voice can be heard from another room, a harsh tone to the voice. A woman talks saying that she’s upset and that the person she is talking to had promised the kids that they’d be reliable this time. Iggy (Roman Griffin-Davis) wakes to the voice, he sits on his bed and rubs his sleepy eyes. He walks slowly down the hallway, as he here’s the voice once more, saying that she is sick of not knowing whether the person is alive or dead, she needs some balance. Iggy stops at the half-opened door. Inside Marie (Carey Mulligan) paces up and down the small room, with her back to the door, phone cradled against her ear. Before hanging up, she finishes the call with, “I don’t want excuses. The last useless bastard had his and I watched mum put up with a lifetime of yours…” Iggy looks along the hall and sees his younger sister Annie (Indica Watson) poke her head out of her room, with sleepy concern. Iggy walks to his sister and takes her in her room.
Annie raises her arms as Iggy helps her put her jumper on over her school shirt. The phone rings again and Marie picks it up, immediately starting from where she left off, however the conversation is indistinct chatter. Annie turns to her brother and asks him to do her hair. He doesn’t know where the brush is. After a moment Annie points to the door, in mum’s room.
Marie hunches on the bed, dabbing away tears, her back turned to the doorway. The hairbrush rests on her dresser with a 10-pound note beside it. Iggy reaches in and grabs the brush and with a guilty look he snatches the money.
Iggy wheels his bike along the pavement, Annie beside him. Both wear school uniform. Annie chews on a slice of toast. Ahead at the school, students filter in through the school gates. Iggy watches as a father waves his son goodbye. Four youths loiter at the entrance to an alleyway. Scully (Harry Collett), who seems to be the leader of the small group spots Iggy and alerts the others. Iggy’s face clouds. He slows and wheels his bike around. Annie seeing this happen asks if he is coming. He says he left something behind and tells Annie to run into school.
Iggy rides frantically until he reaches his destination, he hides his bike in some bush. A faded sign fixed to a fence reads: PARFIELD MARSH, M.O.D. PROHIBITED AREA. CLOSED TO PUBLIC. Below, Iggy squeezes through a gap in the chain-link. As he walks on the training ground, he goes past, gutted shells of buildings, cracked windowpanes and tangles of ivy climb damp stained walls to sagging roofs. He walks into a storeroom as if he had been there before, an army recruitment poster threatens to slip from cracked plaster. A sheet of ply balanced on blocks makes up a table, a car tyre for a chair. Iggy drags a sack from beneath a pile of debris. A Clansman field radio stands on the makeshift table, with two wires trailing on the rear, Iggy clamps the wires’ other ends into place on a shiny 12v battery. He takes his time. This is his pride and joy. He flicks the Clansman’s main switch, and raises the headset to his ear. He proceeds to cycle through the frequency selectors one after another focused, in anticipation...
Iggy hears a shout in the distance, Scully and his crew followed him here. Iggy looks up and frowns. A burst of static from the receiver pulls him back, he beams, a success. Metal clangs and the crew’s voices get louder. Iggy sneaks over to a window and peers over to see Scully’s gang roving through the site in his direction. He quickly disconnects the wires and stashes it beneath the debris. He squeezes out through a whole in the debris, not seeing the wire trail behind him.
Iggy narrowly scrambles into an overgrown ditch as the gang moves into view behind him. He peeks through the foliage and watches them move from building to building. He settles in, no choice but to wait it out.
Time has passed, the crew’s voices can still be heard, as can the clanging of metal. Iggy becomes restless and begins to scrape a stick on the ground. The stick catches against something. He brushes the dirt away to reveal a layer of rust. With the stick he levers out a munitions box from the Earth and works off the lid. Inside are machine parts and a small cloth bundle. He takes out the bundle, unwraps the cloth revealing a Hand Grenade. Iggy freezes in shock, barely registering the voice of Scully saying that he isn’t here. Another boy, Grub (Sam Taylor Buck), yells out that he’ll be there in a second. Running footsteps close in on Iggy. Iggy’s eyes dart from the lip of the ditch to the grenade. The footsteps stop, but another sound starts, the patter of running water. He watches a stream of urine trickle into the ditch, narrowly avoiding his feet...It stops. The boy runs away as the footsteps disappear. Iggy slips the grenade back into the cloth. He then decides to stuff the box back into the Earth, he covers it with dirt and a stick to mark the spot.
Annie wants dutifully on the pavement outside school, as Iggy wheels the bike past her in silence. She asks where he has been to which he says he was kept in. She wants a piggyback ride, but he doesn’t register and continues walking. She calls Iggy a dick.
Iggy, Marie and Annie sit at the dinner table as they eat. Marie watching Iggy chomp down his food. She asks how school was, to which he shrugs. She wonders whether he went to school, he lies, she wants to believe him but knows better. She stands and collects their plates in a frosty silence. He then brings up their grandfather. He asks if he will lose his job, she doesn’t know but says that it wouldn’t have been the first time it happened. She cuts him a look before placing the dishes in the sink, she then grabs an envelope from a shelf. She walks over to Iggy ad hands him the envelope, saying that he must take it to his grandfather tomorrow morning. He whinges briefly as it will be Saturday. She then says that it’s his work schedule so he says he will do it. She says she has the morning shift so must go to bed; she tells them not to stay up too late.
It’s bedtime for Annie so Iggy takes her into bed and tucks her in. He then proceeds to the living room. He sits on the sofa with the light from the T.V illuminating his face. It sounds like a war film, with the sounds of gunfire and explosions ringing out. He smiles as he watches it.
A line of ducks paddles through the murky water of a canal, as Iggy pedals his bike along the pathway. He stops at a narrowboat. Paint flakes from the cabin and the curtains are drawn. A name on the side reads: Galahad. Iggy bangs on the roof getting a muffled moan from inside.
Inside is cramped and clutter with junk, the only piece of clothing hanging up is a dress shirt with a badge pinned to the pocket that reads, Palace Security. Bryn (Brian Cox) wearing a fisherman’s cap brings a kettle to the boil and lets Iggy through the hatch. Iggy looks around the boat, and zeroes in on a photo of a naval ship. Bryn begins to ask about Marie and if she’s working. Iggy keeps the answers simple, yes. Bryn asks about Annie and where she is, Iggy says that she’s at their dads. He adds that his mum doesn’t like it when he’s around. Under his breath Bryn says that there is a lot of things Marie doesn’t like. Iggy crosses to the picture again, and asks what it is. A Round Table Class Landing Ship, is what it is. Iggy questions whether Bryn was on that one. After a moment he changes the subject, asking what Marie has told Iggy about him. Iggy wavers, not really knowing how to answer. Bryn then asks what he’s here for then. Iggy looks hurt. He pulls the envelope from his bag, drops it on the table. Iggy shoulders his backpack, he pauses at the exit. “Says you don’t like people. You don’t like work. You live on a boat so you can run away whenever you want, not have to bother with us.” Iggy leaves. Bryn steps out, envelope in hand. He watches Iggy ride away, a twinge of shame in his eyes. The truth hurts.
Back at the training ground Iggy rides his way past the derelict buildings. He arrives at the storeroom. The poster litters the ground, the table overturned, battery smashed, the wires trail from the Clansman’s broken headset. Iggy gathers up the radio piece-by-piece as angry tears well in his eyes as he slips them into his pack. Overseeing it all, a big smiley-face daubed on the wall. He heads out of the storeroom and down to the ditch. He stares at the stick marker, uncertain, then opens the rusted tin. He grabs the grenade out and stuffs it in his backpack.
Iggy wheels his bike across a bridge. As he reaches the pathway, he sees Scully and co. blocking his pathway. Too late to run, he keeps his head down and keeps walking. The crew fall silent and moves out of his way as if to let him walk. At the last moment Scully snatches Iggy’s pack from his shoulder. “You not heard of a phone, freak.” Iggy drops his bike and swings for the pack, Scully dodges and tosses the pack to Grub. Grub takes a few steps back and shakes the bag, amused. They make fun of Iggy even more, before Scully asks if the bag can float. Iggy tries to grab the bag, Grub tosses it over his head, Scully misses -- the bag lands with a thump and rips. Iggy has had enough; he charges at Scully.
Bryn steps on the stern of the Galahad and sees the commotion.
Iggy lies on the ground with Scully standing over him. Bryn appears behind them, a stick in one hand, saucepan in the other with a blanket wrapping his arm from wrist to elbow. He asks if any of them has seen a dog. All eyes shift to Bryn. Bryn drums the stick against the pan and holds out his arm, presenting it for the ’dog’ to bite. He calls out a name, ‘Stalin’, he tells the kids not to look him in the eye, and then asks if there is any schools nearby. The Gang exchanges nervous glances. Then under his breath Bryn says that he can’t go through that shit again. Bryn snaps his jaw at Scully, imitating a dog. He tells them not to do that to him, he hates it. Scully shrinks back, rattled. The other two boys are already slinking away in the background. Grub trades a look with Scully, they quickly run to catch up, not taking any chances with this scruffy lunatic. Iggy picks himself up, as his nose bleeds, Bryn goes to pick up the bag, but Iggy rushes over picking it up before him. Bryn surveys the damage and says that his mother can’t see that. Bryn grabs the bike and walks it and Iggy back to the boat.
As Bryn rummages through the cupboard he sends Iggy into the bathroom to clean himself up, he tells him not to flush otherwise the boat will sink. He finds what he is looking for, a sewing kit. He lifts up the torn bag, which makes a loud noise. He looks down to see a piece of broken headset trailing from its cord. He tilts, a faint smile finds his lips. Piece by piece he pulls the broken radio from the bag, placing it on the table. He delves in again and feels around, he freezes and the smile fades. Iggy towels his face in the bathroom. He gets back to the galley to a waiting Bryn. Sitting in front of him is the grenade. Iggy stops dead in his tracks, guilty. Bryn stares at Iggy and asks if he knows what the red line on the bottom means. Iggy stares back in silence. It means if that pin comes off, him and anyone within 20 feet go sky high. Iggy plays it off saying he thought it was a dud. Iggy apologises. “Coming home late’s sorry. Bunking school’s sorry. It’s not for live ordnance...who gave it you?” Iggy says he found it. Bryn continues laying in to him with his words, teaching him a lesson. Iggy begins speaking in a broken voice asking if he will be arrested. Bryn leans forward, hands clasped in thought.
Bryn carries the back-pack as Iggy follows at a good distance. They walk and walk until they reach the forest edge. Bryn crouches at the base of a tree. Iggy does the same -- at a safe distance. Bryn nods, as does Iggy. Bryn leads Iggy in a charge through the trees. They dodge and weave, pushing forward, tactical style. Iggy comes to rest behind a fallen tree. Bryn, flush from the run, takes up position twenty feet away. He peers out to see a rusting fridge in a clearing, he scans the perimeter, checking they’re alone. Iggy peeks over the log and frowns, asking if that’s a fridge. Bryn tells him the exact model of the fridge, before telling him not to ask about it. He unwraps the grenade. Iggy questions this and Bryn says he wants his taxes worth. Bryn pauses and thumbs the grenade’s pin. With that he slips out of sight towards the clearing. Iggy listens to the crunch of leaves, waiting... Moments pass...Bryn scrambles over the log and drops down beside him. He pulls Iggy close, protective of his grandson. Iggy mouths the count: four, five, six... BANG!!! Iggy flinches, Bryn tenses, for a moment he’s somewhere else, another place and time. He buries it deep and shields Iggy as debris patters down around them. The fridge door lands metres away. Then Silence… Iggy giggles. Bryn fights a smile, slowly giving in before wheezing in amusement.
Iggy and Bryn traverse the landscape, walking side-by-side. Bryn makes him promise that he won’t look around Parfield anymore. Iggy and Bryn approach a semi-detached house, Iggy wheels his bike. Marie opens the front door and sends Bryn a cold look. Bryn says that the kid had bike trouble, so he walked him home. Marie eyes them she senses the lie but accepts it. She says tea is ready and invites Bryn to stay the night if he wants. Iggy looks up at Bryn, hopeful, but Bryn opens his coat to reveal the Palace Security name-tag pinned to his shirt. He says he has nightshift but he’ll take a raincheck. A faint smile passes between him and Marie as she nods. She slips back inside. Bryn asks Iggy if he wants to work on restoring the Clansman soon, for homework. Iggy’s face lights up. He turns to go inside, but Bryn calls out to him. He turns back and Bryn presses something into his palm, Iggy knows what it is, and grins. He gives Bryn a hug before running inside. He runs in tearing it up the stairs. Marie looks out from a side-room and watches after him with a smile.
Iggy drops onto his bed, he opens his hand and stares at the contents, he leans over to the shelf, then pulls back and looks at his handiwork with a smile. The toy Grenadier is positioned as it was before. But this time the grenade’s metal pin-loop dangles from its arm.
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