Guns at Batasi

Guns at Batasi (1964) is a film set at a military outpost during the last days of the British Empire in East Africa. The film, which is based on the novel The Siege of Battersea by Robert Holles, stars Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton, Mia Farrow, and Cecil Parker. A group of veteran British sergeants, headed by an ultra-correct, order-barking Regimental Sergeant Major, are caught between two dissident factions in a n... more

Guns at Batasi (1964) is a film set at a military outpost during the last days of the British Empire in East Africa. The film, which is based on the novel The Siege of Battersea by Robert Holles, stars Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton, Mia Farrow, and Cecil Parker. A group of veteran British sergeants, headed by an ultra-correct, order-barking Regimental Sergeant Major, are caught between two dissident factions in a newly-created African state. The story neatly exposes the feelings of the professional NCOs, their officers and the African soldiers and officers, who are still painfully new to both guns and political slogans. When the post-colonial government of the unnamed African country is overthrown by a populist uprising, troops loyal to the new administration take over the barracks, arrest the commanding officer and seize weapons. With the men cut off in the Sergeants' mess during a mutiny, the melodrama boils down to the initiative and confusion of the... less